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Count Zinzendorf 



MORAVIAN AND INDIAN OCCUPANCY 

OF THE WYOMING VALLEY, (PA)., 
1742-1763. 



Frederick C. Johnson, M. D., 

wilkes-barre, pa. 

Member of Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, 

Moravian Historical Society, 
New England Historical and Gknealogical Society, Etc. 



Reprinted from Vol. \ IIT of the Proceedings and Collections of the 
Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. 



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COUNT ZINZENDORF. 
From "Pennsylvania Colonial and Federal," liy courtesy. 



COUNT ZINZENDORF 

AND THE MORAVIAN AND INDIAN OCCUPANCY 

OF THE WYOMING VALLEY, 

1742-1763. 



Frederick C. Johnson, M. D., 
Treasurer of the Society. 

READ BEFORE THE WYOMING HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY MAY I9, 1894. 



In reading the records of the Moravian Church, and the 
diaries of its intrepid missionaries, one is struck with the 
frequent references to Wyoming Valley. For a score of 
years prior to the advent of the first hardy pioneers from 
Connecticut, in 1762, Wyoming (in common with the valley 
of the Susquehanna above and below) had become familiar 
ground to the fearless evangelists from Bethlehem, in the 
neighboring county of Northampton, whose self-sacrificing 
heroism, in planting the banner of the cross on this hostile 
frontier, challenges admiration. 

To follow in the footsteps of the Moravian missionaries 
as they went through our valley, is more than a mere local 
study. It is a part of the thrilling history of the American 
colonies, with the French and Indian wars as a central idea, 
and to make the most of such a study, the scope of vision 
would have to include much of the colonial history of that 
period. 

The Moravian Church — United Brethren is its official 
name — has always been preeminently a missionary organi- 
zation. No sooner had its pioneers from the old world, 
who had come to the New World in search of religious 
liberty, landed on our shores, than they longed to win the 
souls of the heathen savages to Christianity. Among these 
missionary attempts was the one which especially claims 



2 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

attention in this paper — the evangelization of the Six Na- 
tions Indians, on whose extensive domain Wyoming was 
one of the fairest spots. They hoped, though the hope 
was never fully realized, to make Wyoming a chief base for 
their missionary labors among the Indians. 

In nearly all of their itinerancies, whether to the forks of 
the Susquehanna on the south (present Sunbury) or to On- 
ondaga,^ the Iroquois capital (present Syracuse), on the 
north, their path lay through Wyoming. Their adventur- 
ous hardships, their joys and griefs, triumphs and defeats 
are told in faithful detail in the diaries which they assidu- 
ously kept from day to day, and which were deposited at 
Bethlehem in the archives of the mother church. 

Some of these journals have appeared in part in the pub- 
lications of the Moravian Historical Society and elsewhere. 
Others remain among the manuscript archives. I have 
seen these quaint old diaries of their wanderings, some in 
German, some in English, and have had made copies and 
translations of such diaries as describe journeys to Wyo- 
ming. I have also drawn freely on the Life of Zeisberger 
by Bishop de Schweinitz (who was a great-grandson of 
Zinzendorf), Reichel's Memorials of the Moravian Church, 
manuscript notes of John W. Jordan in the library of the 
Historical Society of Pennsylvania, and on other historical 
publications too numerous to mention. 

MORAVIANS ARRIVE IN PENNSYLVANIA. 

Driven by persecution in Germany to the new Western 
world, the Moravians had founded a settlement in Georgia 

I. Onondaga was the seat of the warlike and powerful confederacy of the Six Na- 
tions. Deputies from the confederated tribes met from time to time at the "Great Coun- 
cil" fire to consider questions of peace or war. The region round about Onondaga 
was called the "Long House." The Six Nations— Onondagas, Senecas, Mohawks, 
Cayugas, Oneidas and Tuscaroras— held absolute supremacy over present New York 
and Pennsylvania, and they claimed authority over tribes to the west and south. Some- 
times they formed alliances with the French and sometimes with the English. During 
the Revolution they were allies of the English, and cruelly ravaged the frontier settle- 
ments. 



¥- ^sn^ 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 3 

in 1735, but it was abandoned owing to the breaking out of 
war between England and Spain in 1739, and most of the 
colonists sought safety in the North. They arrived in Phil- 
adelphia in 1740 in the sloop of George Whitefield, the cel- 
ebrated English evangelist of that day. He had been sent 
to Georgia by the Society for the Propagation of the Gos- 
pel, his associate in the work being John Wesley, afterwards 
the founder of the Methodist Episcopal Church. 

The Moravians settled in what was then called the "Forks 
of the Delaware" (the present Lehigh being then considered 
a branch of the Delaware), and founded Bethlehem and 
Nazareth. Bethlehem received its name on Christmas Eve, 
1741, at the hands of the distinguished Moravian leader, 
Count Nicholas Louis von Zinzendorf,^ then on a visit to 
America from Saxony. The pious nobleman was at this 
time forty-two years of age. Bethlehem has ever since been 
the seat of the Moravian Church in America. 

The histories say that Count Zinzendorf was the first 
white man to look upon Wyoming, but this is an error. The 
region had been penetrated by traders and probably by 
French explorers more than a century earlier. 

Government messengers from Philadelphia had for sev- 

2. Nicholas Louis, Count Zinzendorf, is the remarkable example of a man whose 
religion was so deep and vital as to inspire him to renounce the prospects of worldly 
distinction and devote his rank and fortune to the furtherance of the Gospel. He was 
born in Dresden, Germany, in 1700, and after receiving a university education, he 
resolved to embrace the ecclesiastical profession. Though himself a Lutheran, his 
sympathies were aroused for the United Brethren in Moravia. 

As its adherents were undergoing persecution, he invited them to come to Saxony 
and take refuge on his estate, which some 500 of them were very glad to do in 1722 and 
the succeeding years. 

In 1736 the intolerance from which the Moravians had fled extended to Saxony, and 
the Count was banished from his' beloved Herrnhut, as his community was called. 
Driven from his home, he visited England and subsequently America. He returned 
to Europe in 1743, and subsequently the king of Saxony permitted him to return to 
Herrnhut, the government having meanwhile investigated the charges against the 
Moravians and proved them unfounded. 

The Countess Zinzendorf dying in 1756, he took for his second wife Anna Nitschman 
who had accompanied him and his daughter in their travels in America. Many of the 
hymns sung by the Moravians were composed by Zinzendorf. 

A lengthy poem on Zinzendorf was written by Mrs. Lucy H. Sigourney about 1835. 



4 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

eral years passed up and down the Susquehanna bearing 
dispatches to and from the Six Nations, whose seat was in 
the lake region of New York. Certain it is that the valley 
of the Susquehanna was familiar ground to Conrad Weis- 
ser,' the government interpreter, whose journal records that 
he passed through Wyoming in 1737, while returning to 
Philadelphia from a journey to the Onondaga country. But 
while others penetrated these forest wilds previous to Zin- 
zendorf, to him must be ascribed the credit of being the first 
to leave a permanent impression on the region. Other 
white men had passed through, but that was all. 

Zinzendorf 's visit to Wyoming Valley was followed by a 
missionary occupancy on the part of the Moravians, which 
never ceased until the Indians yielded to the encroachments 
of the whites and disappeared from the valley of the Sus- 
quehanna. 

INDIAN OCCUPATION OF WYOMING. 

When the Moravians first visited Wyoming Valley in 
1742, its Indian residents were Delawares, Monseys, Shaw- 
anese, Nanticokes, Mohicans and Wanamese, all of whom 
were vassals of the Iroquois by virtue of conquest. They 
were practically prisoners. They could not change their 
abode without consent, and they were liable to be sent else- 

3. There is little doubt that a French traveler named Stephen Brule came down from 
Canada and explored the valley of the Susquehanna in 1615. 

The Palatinates, who left the Mohawk Valley in 1723, and sought shelter in Penn- 
sylvania, passed through Wyoming in their remarkable journey down the Susquehanna. 

When Conrad Weisser passed through Wyoming in 1737 he found Dutch traders here. 

A year before Zinzendorf 's visit to Wyoming a Congregationalist missionary pene- 
trated the region, though his stay was short. This was Rev. John Sergeant, who vis- 
ited the Indians June 3, 1741. He was a graduate of Yale, and came from the Indian 
school at Stockbridge, Mass. In a letter dated June 23, 1741, he writes: "I am just 
returned from Susquahanna, where I have been to open the way for the propagation of 
the gospel among the Shawanoos." In opening his address to them he alluded to 
"the brothers who had seen so many mornings at Mukh-haw-waumuk." Sergeant was 
kindly received, but the Indians refused to embrace Christianity, and he returned dis- 
couraged, pitying their ignorance and praying God to open therr eyes. June 7 he 
preached to the Indians on the Delaware. 

David Brainard, a Presbyterian missionary, arrived at Wapwallopen. October 5, 
1744, but did not go to Wyoming. 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 5 

where whenever their imperious masters demanded. Prob- 
ably the reason Wyoming was chosen as the abiding place 
of these vassal people, was that it lay on the great Iroquois 
highway between the north and the south, where they could 
be kept under constant supervision of their masters. 

The earliest to occupy Wyoming Valley, so far as ap- 
pears, were the Shawanese, whom Conrad Weiser found there 
in 1737, who were foes of the Enghsh. By permission of John 
Penn they had first located in Wyoming in 1701. Reichel 
believes that "they were placed at Wyoming by the Six Na- 
tions, who were confident that they could place no custo- 
dians more reliable than the ferocious Shawanese in charge 
of that lovely valley, which they designed to keep for them- 
selves and their children forever." In 1728, when about 
500 in number, the Six Nations had ordered them to move 
to the Ohio, and their empty cabins at Wyoming were 
taken by another contingent of Shawanese, who were trans- 
ferred from near Lancaster. They had for their leader Ka- 
kowatchie (or Gachawatschiqua), and it was these Shawa- 
nese whom Zinzendorf found at Wyoming in 1742. Besides 
their village where Plymouth stands, the Shawanese had 
another between Plymouth and Kingston, back of what is 
called Ross Hill, present Blindtown. There were also 
Shawanese villages at Fishing Creek and Brier Creek. 

The Delawares called themselves Lenni Lenape, signify- 
ing "original people." The Monsies (or Minsies) and the 
Wanamese belonged to them. The Delawares had their 
council fire at Minisink, near the Delaware Water Gap, fifty 
miles southeast of Wilkes-Barre, and their hunting grounds 
extended from Easton, Pa., to the sea. They had a village 
near Scranton as early as 1728. They were vassals of the 
Iroquois, by whom they were ordered away from the Forks 
of the Delaware and given the option of locating either at 
Shamokin or at Wyoming. Nearly all went to Wyoming, 
but some chose Shamokin. So it happened that they had 



6 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

become occupants of the valley of the Susquehanna in the 
same year that Zinzendorf and his followers first visited the 
region in 1742. 

The leader of the Delawares was Teedyuscung, who was 
born about 1700 near Trenton, N. J., a locality in which his 
ancestors had been seated from time immemorial. They 
were gradually pushed northwardly by the settlements, and 
about 1730 located in Pennsylvania above the confluence of 
the Delaware and Lehigh Rivers, and finding no white men, 
they wandered wherever they found good hunting or fish- 
ing. But in a very few years the wilderness in the Forks 
began to be encroached upon by Scotch-Irish immigrants. 

The Delaware Indians had been defrauded of their hunt- 
ing grounds in the Forks by means of such unscrupulous 
measures as the "walking purchase of 1737," and it was 
only by appealing to their masters, the Six Nations, to ex- 
pel them, that the Penns could obtain possession. The Six 
Nations treated them in the most insulting manner, and 
aroused in the breasts of the Delawares an animosity that 
never slumbered. 

Humiliated beyond measure, and nursing a revenge that 
was to be gratified in after years with frightful atrocities 
upon a defenceless frontier, Teedyuscung and his followers 
left their hunting grounds in the Forks of the Delaware 
and repaired to their new home in the Susquehanna Valley, 
to which their tyrannical masters had assigned them. They 
built a town just below Wilkes-Barre. 

At Nescopeck, 30 miles below Wilkes-Barre, was an im- 
portant Delaware town, on the east bank of the Susque- 
hanna. On the same stream, a little above the mouth of 
the Lackawanna, was the Delaware town of Asserughney, 
and there was a Delaware village at Tunkhannock and an- 
other at Wyalusing, 

The Wanamese occupied the elevated land two miles 
north of Wilkes-Barre, named Jacob's Plains, for their chief. 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 7 

The Monseys occupied Lackawanna Valley and had a 
town where Scranton now stands. Their leader was Capouse. 

The Mohicans came with the Delawares in 1742 and 
built a village near Forty Fort at the mouth of a stream 
which has ever since borne the name of their chief, Abra- 
ham. Rising in Dallas township, it crosses Kingston town- 
ship, runs through Wyoming borough, and flows into the 
Susquehanna at Forty Fort. 

The Nanticokes had their village on the east bank of the 
Susquehanna near present Nanticoke. The Nanticokes 
were a dependency of the Iroquois, living along Chesapeake 
Bay. Their name in the several languages signified tide- 
water or sea-shore people. They passed up to Wyoming 
in 1748, either under the orders of the Iroquois or by their 
permission. Zeisberger says they were averse to the Gos- 
pel, and surpassed all the other Indians in their heathenism 
and sorcery. However, several became Moravian converts. 
Smallpox and ardent spirits carried off the greater part of 
the Nanticokes, so that in 1785 in Ohio there were scarcely 
fifty of them. They sided with the British, and ultimately 
settled in Canada, alongside the Shawanese, who had invited 
them. 

The Valley was occupied by the Indians in greater or less 
numbers until 1763, when, upon the death of Teedyuscung, 
the aborigines departed. However, a few of them contin- 
ued to visit the fertile plains of Wyoming for some years 
later, as shown by references in the diary of the Moravian 
Indian village at Wyalusing (1765-1772). A little before 
the abandonment of the Wyalusing mission by the Mora- 
vians in 1772, the Connecticut migration had set in, and 
with it disappeared all Indians from the valley of the Sus- 
quehanna. 



COUNT ZINZENDORF 



ZINZENDORF S VISIT. 



Soon after the Moravians arrived in Pennsylvania, in 
1740, they entered upon their project of evangelizing the 
Indians of Pennsylvania and New York. Zinzendorf be- 
lieved the aborigines to be descendants of the Lost Tribes 
of Israel who had wandered across Asia, and reached the 
continent of America by Bering Strait. 

Drawn, as he says, by a power which he could not resist, 
the Count had a strong desire to introduce the gospel 
among the Iroquois. But they were so savage and revenge- 
ful, and so under the influence of the French in Canada, 
that he concluded it would be wiser to operate through 
other tribes who were their vassals or allies. 

With this in view he visited Wyoming in the autumn of 
1742. But before going there he journeyed to the Indians 
in the Forks of the Delaware,* and to the Mohicans on the 
Hudson. He then went to the Indian town of Shamokin,^ 
the residence of the king of the Delawares and of the vice- 

4. The name then given to the lands lying within the confluence of the Delaware and 
Lehigh. At that time the Lehigh was called the west branch of the Delaware. The 
Indian name for the Lehigh river was Lechau-weki (the fork of the road), abbreviated 
by the Germans into Lecha, and corrupted by the English into Lehigh. 

5. Shamokin, in consequence of its commanding position at the point where the two 
branches of the Susquehanna River unite, and where the great trails converged, was 
the most important Indian town in the province of Pennsylvania. 

The Six Nations held this as a strategic point at an early day and made it the seat of 
a viceroy or governor, who ruled for them the tributary tribes along the Susquehanna. 
It was therefore the most important Indian town south of Tioga Point. 

Here the Iroquois warriors, in their return from marauds against the Cherokees and 
Catawbas, would halt and hold carousals for the last time before reaching Onondaga. 
Conrad Weisser visited the town in 1737. Martin Mack, who was the first missionary 
sent here by the Moravians, 1746, describes the place as "the very seat of the Prince of 
Darkness," and he says they were in constant danger from the drunken savages. 
Zeisberger and Post labored here. 

David Brainard, who visited it the same year, says it had about fifty huts and three 
hundred inhabitants. Mack, at the request of Shikellimy, had the Moravians establish a 
blacksmith shop there in 1747, much to the convenience of the Indians. Owing to the 
outbreak of the French war the mission was abandoned in 1755. 

The following year the provincial authorities built Fort Augusta, for which see Me- 
ginness' History of the West Branch Valley. The site of old Shamokin is occupied by 
Sunbury, the county seat of Northumberland county. The Shamokin of modern times 
is an entirely different town some twenty miles to the southeast. 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 9 

roy of the Oneidas, near the confluence of the two branches 
of the Susquehanna, accompanied by several of the brethren 
and sisters, all on horseback. His companions were Boh- 
ler. Mack and wife, Anna Nitschmann,^ Leimbach, Weisser, 
David and Joshua. 

They had for their guide up the West Branch, Shikellimy, 
the Oneida viceroy. They were compelled to ford streams, 
ride over lofty mountains and into deep valleys and marshes, 
and pass the nights in a tent which they carried with them. 

After staying at Shamokin a short time he went to Ot- 
stonwakin, or French Town, where Madame Montour,^ an 
Indianized French woman from Quebec, was living, now 

6. Anna Nitschman was born in Moravia in 1715, her father having suffered martyr- 
dom for the faith. At the age of ten she and her parents took refuge at Herrnhut, where 
she early became interested in religion. At the age of fifteen she occupied an official 
position in the congregation. At the age of twenty-one she and others accompanied 
Count Zinzendorf into banishment, and four years later she joined the Moravians at 
Bethlehem. She accompanied Zinzendorf on his journey to Wyoming Valley in 1742, 
and thus writes in her diary : "Our last journey was into the heart of the fi.dian country, 
where we sojourned 49 days, encamping under the open heavens, in a savage wilder- 
ness amid wild beasts and venomous snakes." In 1757 she became the second wife of 
Count Zinzendorf, and died three years later. 

7. "Madame Montour," as she was called, the grandmother of the atrocious "Queen 
Esther" Montour, was born about 1684, the daughter of a Frenchman named Montour, 
who had emigrated to Canada and married an Indian woman. Of their children Jean 
became a captain in the English service. The daughter's name is unknown, and she 
was always spoken of as "Madame" Montour. She was captured by the Iroquois in 
childhood, and married Carondowanna, or Big Tree, an Oneida chief, who adopted 
Robert Hunter as his English name. Though married she retained the name of Mon- 
tour, in accordance with the Iroquois custom of handing down the family name through 
the female line as well as through the male line. 

She and Hunter were living on the West Branch as early as 1727. She was a familiar 
figure in Indian affairs along the Susquehanna, and was a great influence among the 
aborigines. She acted at times as interpreter for the Provincial authorities. Her hus- 
band was slain in battle with the Catawbas, and in this loss John and Thomas Penn 
sent her a message of sympathy. 

Zeisberger and Spangenburg visited the aged queen at Otstonwakin on the West 
Branch in 1745. Montoursville, a few miles east of Williamsport, perpetuates her name 
and marks the site of her village, Otso.iwakin. Her son, Andrew Montour (Sattelihu) 
was extensively engaged as an interpreter for the Provincial authorities. 

She had a daughter, "French Margaret Montour," who was mother of the Indian 
fury, "Queen Esther." Esther's Montour ancestors and relatives were all friends of 
the whites and rendered valuable services, but she was always their implacable foe, 
and after the battle of Wyoming she tomahawked a dozen or more prisoners with her 
own hand. 

Andrew Montour, known also as Sattelihu, was employed by the Pennsylvania Pro- 
prietaries as interpreter for some years, and his services were invaluable. He oflen 



10 COUNT ZINZENDORP 

Montoursville, in Lycoming county. He tells us that he 
addressed them in French. 

They then set out for Wyoming, traveling overland. 
Conrad Weisser, the government interpreter, was tempora- 
rily called away on business for the Province, and Andrew 
Montour acted as their guide until Weisser should rejoin 
them. The journey through the wilderness from river to 
river occupied four days, and was marked by many hard- 
ships, the region being entirely unoccupied by whites, and 
having no other road than an Indian path. 

"Leaving Otstonwakin," says Mack, "our way lay through 
the forest, over rocks and frightful mountains, and across 
streams swollen by heavy rains. This was a fatiguing and 
dangerous journey, and on several occasions we imperiled 
our lives in fording the creeks which ran with impetuous 
current. On the fifth day we reached Wyoming, and pitched 
our tent not far from the Shawanese town." 

The travelers probably followed the "Warrior's Path" 
from the " Great Island" (Lock Haven), which skirted the 

accompanied Conrad Weisser (who spoke IVIohawk but not Delaware) and the Mora- 
vian missionaries in their negotiations with the Six Nations at Onondaga. During the 
war with the French he was captain of a company of Indians in the English service 
and rose to major. The French feared him to such an extent that they offered ^loo 
for his death or capture. 

Twenty years later he was the leader of Indian raids upon the white settlements. 
He was a son of Madame Montour and an uncle of "Queen Esther" Montour. 

As to "F"rench Margaret" Montour, Reichel gives the relationship in a slightly dif- 
ferent manner. He makes her a niece and not a daughter of Madame Montour, and a 
cousin instead of a brother of Andrew Montour. Reichel says Mack met French Mar- 
garet and Andrew on the West Branch in 1745, that French Margaret was the wife 
of a Mohawk, and that she had banished liquor from her town. Her husband, Peter 
Quebec, had not drunk rum for six years when Mack was there. She treated the Mo- 
ravian missionaries kindly. Reichel does not allude to Queen Esther being her daugh- 
ter. French Margaret frequently acted as interpreter at treaties. She is said to have 
been an uncertain ally. 

In July of 1754 French Margaret and her Mohawk husband and two grandchildren, 
traveling in semi-barbaric state, with an Irish groom and six relay and pack horses, 
passed through Bethlehem on their way to New York. During her stay she attended 
divine worship. 

For details as to the Montours see W. H. Egle's "Notes and Queries," 3d series, 
vol. I, p. 73 ; also an address by Sidney Roby Miner, "Queen Esther at Wyoming," in 
the transactions of the Wyoming Commemorative Association for 1894. 



(/ 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. I 1 

north bank of the West Branch (present Montoursville, a 
few miles east of WilHamsport), some forty miles, and thence 
led due east through the present counties of Lycoming, Sul- 
livan, Columbia and Luzerne, about seventy miles, to the 
Shawanese village in Wyoming Valley, on the west side of 
the Susquehanna, where is now Plymouth. Through the 
fastnesses of this primeval forest, says Reichel, never before 
traveled by white men save adventurous French traders like 
James Le Tort and Pierre Bizaillon, Andrew Montour 
guided these first evangelists to the heathen dwellers on the 
plains of Wyoming. 

On reaching Wyoming Valley they were joined by the 
Brethren David Nitschmann, Anton Seiffert and Jacob 
Kohn, who had arrived from Bethlehem, by way of Shamo- 
kin, and thence up the Susquehanna by the Indian path to 
Wyoming. Kohn had just arrived from Europe bearing 
letters for Zinzendorf 

On their arrival at a point where is now Plymouth, Lu- 
zerne county, they encamped near the village ol the Shaw- 
anese. Here Zinzendorf remained for three weeks, but the 
Indians gave little heed to his preaching. The only white 
men most of them had ever seen were traders, and Zinzen- 
dorf was naturally suspected of having business motives, too. 
The Indians were unfriendly in spite of the Count's gener- 
ous distribution of presents, and their manner was threaten- 
ing in the extreme. 

One of his companions was John Martin Mack,® who has 

8. John Martin Mack, for many years a missionary among the Indians, was born in 
Wurtemburg in 1715. He was at this time 29 years of age. He was one of the Mora- 
vian Brethren who endeavored to open a work in Georgia in 1735. When the Brethren 
were compelled to abandon the Georgia mission, Mack accompanied them to Pennsyl- 
vania. 

In 1742 he married Jeannette, daughter of John Ran, a Palatinate farmer, and was 
assigned to Shecomeco mission. Her familiarity with the Mohawk language made 
her a valuable assistant. Both Mack and Jeannette accompanied Zinzendorf to Wyo- 
ming in 1742. 

The hostility to the Moravians was so great, owing to the charges that they were in 
league with the French, that he was arrested and forbidden to preach. The Shecom- 



12 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

left an interesting journal of the expedition. At the time it 
was written twenty years had elapsed, Zinzendorf was dead, 
and Mack affectionately refers to the Count as the Disciple, 
that being one of the favorite terms which they associated 
with his beloved name and memory. He says : 

" The reception by the savages was unfriendly, although 
from the first their visits were frequent. Painted with red 
and black, each with a large knife in his hand, they came in 
crowds about the tent again and again. He lost no time, 
however, in informing the Shawanese chief, through Andrew 
Montour, the half-Indian interpreter, of the object of his 
mission. This the wily savage affected to regard as a mys- 
tery, and replied that such matters concerned the white man 
and not the Indian. * * * Our stock of provisions was 
by this time almost exhausted, and yet the Disciple shared 
with the Indians what little was left. The very clothes on 
his back were not spared. One shirt button after another 
was given away, until all were gone, and likewise his shoe- 
buckles, so that we were obliged to fasten his underclothes 
with strings. 

"For ten days we lived on boiled beans, of which we par- 
took sparingly, as the supply was scanty. The suspicious 
manner which the Shawanese manifested on our first arrival 
remained unchanged, and at times their deportment was such 
as to lead us to infer that it would be their greatest delight 
to make way with us. 

"Notwithstanding this, the Disciple remained in the town 
and made repeated efforts to have the object of his visit 
brought before the consideration of the chiefs. They, how- 
ever, evaded every approach, and their disappointment at 

eco mission had to be abandoned in 1744, in consequence of acts passed against the 
Moravians by the New York Assembly. 

In 1746 he was one of those who founded Gnadenhutten on the Mahoning, the Mora- 
vian mission that was destroyed by savages in 1755. He made frequent trips to the In- 
dians of the West Branch, and in 1752 accompanied Zeisberger to Onondaga. In 1755 
he made three visits to Wyoming. He was ultimately made a bishop, and died in the 
West Indies in 1784. 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 1 3 

not receiving large presents gave unmistakable evidence of 
displeasure, so that we felt that the sooner we left the bet- 
ter it would be for us." 

The whole world is familiar with Zinzendorf 's adventure 
with the rattlesnakes, which occurred here. As the story is 
told in the histories, the savages were creeping up to the 
tent of Zinzendorf intending to kill him, when they saw a 
rattlesnake, startled by their approach, crawl over his body 
and disappear without harmimg him ; that their superstitious 
natures prompted the idea that he was under the protection 
of the Great Spirit, and they abandoned their murderous 
design. 

To his experience with the snakes the Count himself re- 
fers in one of his poems. For be it understood that while 
surrounded by the savages in the Wyoming Valley, and in 
danger of losing his life from their treachery, he was en- 
gaged with quiet courage and diligence in preparing a sup- 
plement to the collection of hymns then in use among the 
Moravian Brethren. 

The story as related by Mack, who was an eye-witness, 
is quite different and much less picturesque. It is as follows : 

" The tent was pitched on an eminence. One fine sunny 
day as the Disciple sat on the ground within, looking over 
his papers that lay scattered about him, and as the rest of 
us were outside, I observed two blow-snakes (blase-schlan- 
gen) basking at the edge of the tent. Fearing that they might 
crawl inside, I moved toward them, intending to dispatch 
them. They were, however, two quick for me, slipped into 
the tent, and gliding over the Disciple's thigh, disappeared 
among his papers. 

" On examination we ascertained that he had been seated 
at the mouth of their den. Subsequently the Indians in- 
formed me that our tent was pitched on the site of an old 
burying-ground in which hundreds of Indians lay buried. 
They also told us that there was a deposit of silver ore in 



14 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

the hill, and that we were charged by the Shawanese with 
having come for the silver and for nothing else.^ 

"This statement proved to be a fiction invented by the 
wily savages in order to afford them some grounds for an 
altercation with us, and to bring us into general disrepute ; 
for we subsequently learned that the hill on which our tent 
had been pitched was not the locality of the precious ore. 

" On the following day we moved higher up the Susque- 
hanna, and here was the extreme limit of our journey. 
The words of the hymn, 'Der viert' ein unwegsame Spitz, 
Der Susquehanna quellen,' allude to this encampment. The 
Disciple, I have no doubt, was led to this point, in order to 
have an opportunity of reading his letters from Europe and 
Bethlehem undisturbed, and to be farther away from the 
Indians. We now returned to our second encampment, 
where the Disciple formally laid his proposition before the 
Shawanese chief The latter, however, turned a deaf ear to 
our approaches, and grew vehement. 

" Upon this the Disciple produced the string of wampum 
that the sachems of the Six Nations had given him at Tul- 
pehocken,^" when starting on the journey, but even its author- 
itative presence failed to move the savages in their determi- 
nation or to mollify their murderous intentions. 

" We were completely foiled, and saw that our mission 
was a failure. This mio-ht have been owiner to misstate- 



9. Spangenburg's Life of Zinzendorf, p. 310, says: 

"The Five Nations, who imagine that great treasures and rich silver mines lie con- 
cealed in Wayoniik, ceded that part of the country to the Shawanese in order by these 
means to prevent any Europeans from coming thither and discovering them." 

This long current tradition never had any foundation in fact, though vast deposits 
of coal subsequently made the Wyoming Valley one of the richest localities in the 
world. 

10. While on the way from Philadelphia to Bethlehem, Zinzendorf had felt drawn 
by some irresistible influence to go to Tulpehocken, where dwelt his interpreter 
and guide, Conrad Weisser, who was to accompany him to the Susquehanna. "He 
knew not ivhy he should direct his steps thither, but he could not throw off the idea 
that duty called him to that place. Accordingly he sent most of his cavalcade 
directly to Bethlehem, while he turned towards the west through the present counties 
of Lehigh and Berks, and in three or four days found himself at Tulpehocken. Here 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. I 5 

ments made by our interpreter" to the Shawanese, who, as 
we subsequently learned, had not been fully in our interests." 

" One day Jeannette, on returning from the town from 
visiting the Indians, informed Zinzendorf that she had met 
with a Mohican woman in the upper town, who, to her un- 
speakable joy, had spoken to her of the Saviour. This in- 
telligence deeply affected him. He rose up and bade us go 
with him in search of her, and in the interview that followed 
he magnified the love of Jesus to her in terms of the most 
persuasive tenderness. 

" This woman now became our provider, furnishing us 
with corn and corn-bread, until we could secure other sup- 
plies. Hymns No. 1853 and 1854 in supplement XI of the 
Hymn-book contain allusions to her ; and the Disciple's 
prayer in her behalf, expressed in the i8th stanza of the 
former, has been heard and answered. 

" On another occasion, on informing him that I had seen 
Chikasi, he asked me to find him and bring him into his 
presence. To him also he extolled the Saviour's love. 
[Chikasi was a Catawba who had been brought a captive 

he met the deputies of the Six Nations, then on their return from their conference with 
Governor Thomas in regard to the Delawares remaining east of the Blue mountain ; 
this tribe being at that period under the control of the powerful confederacy near the 
great lakes. The Count became acquainted with the chiefs, gained their good will, and 
ratified a covenant with them in behalf of the Brethren as their representative; and a 
belt of wampum was given him as a token of their friendship, which was used eve'' 
afterwards in the dealings of the Moravians with the Iroquois. By this treaty the count 
believed the way would be opened for the spread of the gospel among the Northern 
Indians, and this explained to his own mind the cause of the vivid impression that he 
ought to repair to the distant spot, where he unexpectedly met them. His hope of 
Christianizing the fierce warriors of the northern border was not realized, but the Mo- 
ravians would never have been able to accomplish as much as they did among the 
Delawares and Mohicans if they had not secured by this interview the amity of those 
who held sway over the enfeebled clans near the sea coast." 

II. This is how the interpreter, Andrew Montour, is described by Zinzendorf: "An" 
draw's cast of countenance is decidedly European, and I would have taken him for one 
had not his face been encircled with a broad band of paint applied with bear grease. 
He wore a brown broadcloth coat, a scarlet damasken lappel-waistcoat, breeches, over 
which his shirt hung, a black handkerchief, decked with silver bugles, shoes, stock- 
ings and hat. His ears were hung with pendants of brass and other wires plaited 
together." 



l6 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

to Wyoming by the Iroquois on their return from a maraud 
to the South.] 

"One day, having convened the Indians in the upper town, 
he laid before them his object in coming to Wyoming, and 
expressed the desire to send people among them that would 
tell them words spoken by their Creator. Most of these 
were Mohicans, and not as ill disposed towards us as the 
Shawanese. Although they signified no decided opposition, 
they stated their inability to entertain any proposals without 
the consent of the Shawanese, according to whose decision 
they were compelled to shape their own. Should these 
assent, they said they would be satisfied. My Jeannette 
acted as interpreter of what passed during this meeting." 

Not long after this the suspicious Shawanese laid a plot 
to murder Zinzendorf, but Conrad Weisser, now returned 
from Tulpehocken, reached the valley, alarmed at the 
Count's continued absence, and filled with a presentiment of 
the danger which threatened the Moravians. 

The presence of Weisser, who was the government agent, 
and the bold authority with which he treated the Shawanese, 
held in check their wicked intention, though vagabond sav- 
ages continued to swarm around their tent, by day and by 
night, in such a threatening manner, that Zinzendorf warned 
us to be on our guard and not even to accept provisions from 
them. 

The Moravians accordingly returned to Bethlehem, Mack, 
Jeannette, Nitschmann and Andrew Montour going across 
the Wilkes-Barre and Pocono mountains, the Count and 
several others taking the path down the river to Shamokin. 

Mack tells an adventure which illustrates the Count's pa- 
tience and cheerful fortitude. "I once rode out with the 
Disciple and Anna Nitschmann. There was a creek in our 
way, in a swampy piece of ground. Anna and myself led 
in crossing, and with difficulty succeeded in crossing the fur- 
ther bank, which was steep and muddy. But the Disciple 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 1/ 

was less fortunate, for in attempting to climb the bank his 
horse plunged, broke the girth, and his rider rolled off back- 
wards into the swamp, and the saddle upon him. It required 
much effort on my part to extricate him, and when I had at 
last succeeded, he kissed me and said, 'My poor brother, I 
am an endless source of trouble.' (Du armer Bruder ! Ich 
plage dich doch was rechtes !) Unfortunately we had no 
change of clothing and had to dry ourselves by the camp- 
fire. Adventures of this kind befell us more than once." 

During this tour Zinzendorf was absent from Bethlehem 
seven weeks, and endured many hardships and severe labors 
in his efforts to observe the customs and character of the 
tribes with whom he came in contact, and to prepare the 
way for conveying to them the blessings of civilization and 
Christianity. He had no desire to be spoken of or addressed 
by his title, "the Count," and was called sometimes "Brother 
Lewis," as that was one of his given names, and "The Dis- 
ciple" in later years. 

This was the last visit Zinzendorf ever made to the Indi- 
ans. After his return to the vicinity of Philadelphia he re- 
mained in this country about two months, and left New 
York for Europe January 20, 1743, having been in our state 
more than a year. His death occurred in 1760 at Herrnhut, 
Germany, the seat of the Moravian Church in Europe. 

After Zinzendorf 's return to Philadelphia from the Indian 
country he mapped out a plan of operations to be pursued 
by the Moravian Church in the mission among the Indians, 
and the draft in his writing is in the Bethlehem archives. 

Five centres were selected: Bethlehem; Wyoming Val- 
ley ; Otstonwakin (on the West Branch), near present Wil- 
liamsport; Shecomeco (Duchess county, N. Y.), between 
the western border of Connecticut and the Hudson ; and 
New England. 

Wyoming never realized the hope of Zinzendorf, but his 



1 8 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

initiatory labors, though unsatisfactory in point of results, 
opened the valley of the Susquehanna for the entrance of 
other Moravian evangelists during the next score of years. 
Furthermore, as often as these missionaries passed up the 
Susquehanna to the Iroquois capital, Onondaga (or to the 
later station at Wyalusing), between 1765 and 1772, until the 
dispersion of the Indians, Wyoming was sure to be visited. 
As long as its mixed Indians remained in the Valley these 
Moravian itinerants scattered the seed of the word, down to 
the arrival of the first pioneer settlers from Connecticut in 
1762. 

To their German ears the Wyoming of the English 
sounded like Wajomik or Wayomick, and so the Moravian 
missionaries usually wrote it. Its earliest Indian name, so 
far as now appears, was Skehandowana of the Iroquois, who 
also called it Gahonta. The Delaware Indians called it 
M'cheu-wami. All these names are said to have signified 
"large plains." 

The first allusion to Wyoming on record is in the minutes 
of a conference held with Indians from the Susquehanna, at 
Philadelphia, in 1728. Wyoming was called "Meehayomy, 
above which the Minisinks lived." At a council held in 
1732 the Indians asked to be helped with horses on their 
homeward journey to Onondaga as far as "Meehayomy." 

While Heckewelder says Wyoming is derived from 
M'cheu-wami, Delaware for "large plains," Reichel thinks 
it may be the English approximation to the Indian Meeha- 
yomy. The word M'cheu-wami does not occur in the rec- 
ords of transactions between the governor of Pennsylvania 
and the Indians. 

Conrad Weisser*^ uses the Iroquois name Skehandowana, 

12. Conrad Weisser was a conspicuous figure in the Provincial history of Pennsylva- 
nia. He was born in Wurtemburg, Germany, in 1696, and came to America with a 
company of Palatinates at the age of fourteen, under the auspices of the English Queen 
Anne. They settled in the Mohawk country in the Colony of New York, and while 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. I9 

in a narrative of a journey to Onondaga in February, 1737. 
On his return from the Iroquois capital he wrote : 

"We reached Skehandovvana, where a number of Indians, 
Shawanos and Mahickanders (Mohicans) reside. Found 
there two traders from New York, and three men from the 
Maqua (Mohawk) country, who were hunting land; their 
names are Ludwig Rasselman, Martin Dillenbach & Piet 
deNiger. Here there is a large body of land, the like of 
which is not to be found on the river." 

Thus early did the fertile flats of Wyoming Valley attract 
attention. 

Writing to the governor in December, lySS, Conrad 
Weisser reports that the Indians with whom he had con- 
ferred at John Harris's Ferry (present Harrisburg) had told 
him that the French were influencing the Delawares living 
at Nescopeck, half way from Shamokin to Skehandowana. 

In a speech made by deputies of the Six Nations at a 
meeting with Sir William Johnson, in July, 1755, the speaker 
said : " The land which reaches down from Owego to Ske- 
handowana we beg may not be settled by Christians." 

The Six Nations continued to guard Wyoming Valley 
with jealous care until its evacuation in 1756 by a mixture 
of Indians who were residing there by permission of the 
Iroquois. Up to 1756 the Six Nations were determined 
that "these lands should not be settled, but reserved for a 

there, though only a lad, he spent eight months with an Indian chief and acquired the 
Mohawk language, a piece of knowledge that served him well in afterlife. In 1723 the 
Palatinates migrated from the Colony of New York passing down the Susquehanna 
into Pennsylvania, and later he followed them. 

He, therefore, is one of the very first white men who ever gazed upon Wyoming 
Valley. The wanderers took up land at Tulpehocken, in present Berks county, and 
engaged in farming. Weisser's fluency in the Mohawk tongue recommended him to 
the notice of the Proprietary government, and at the request of the Six Nations he was 
appointed official interpreter for the confederation. From that time he was largely 
identified with Indian affairs of the Province. He was held in high esteem by the In- 
dians and received at their hands the name of Tarachawagon. 

He was a warm friend of the Moravians and their missionary efforts among the In- 
dians. He met Spangenburg in 1736, and it was his representations as to the wretched 
condition of the Indians that led to the Moravian movement. He acted as guide and 
interpreter and contributed of his means. 



20 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

place of retreat to such as in this time of war between the 
French and EngHsh might be obhged to leave their habita- 
tions ; and that there was no part of their lands so conven- 
ient as Wyoming." 

In December, 1754, their viceroy, Shikellimy,'^ complained 
to Governor Morris "that some strangers from New York 
are coming like flocks of birds to disturb us in our posses- 
sion." 

Who were they ? Nothing more is heard of them. 

In February, 1756, an Indian scout reported to the govern- 
ment that there were three towns in the Valley — one inhab- 
ited by the Delawares, another by Shawanese, and a third 
by Chickasaws and Mohicans. At this time it was Teedy- 
uscung's headquarters. 

When the Indian war was ended one of Teedyuscung's 
conditions was that government should assist him and his 
people in making a settlement in Wyoming, instructing them 

13. Shikellimy, an Oneida chief, was in 1728 acting representative of the Five Na- 
tions in business affairs with the Proprietary government. About 1745 he was appoint- 
ed their vicegerent, and in this capacity administered their tributaries within the 
Province of Pennsylvania, with Shamolvin for his seat. It was because of the large in- 
fluence he in this way wielded that the English always sought his favor, and this they 
ever retained. 

Few treaties (and these were of frequent occurrence between 1728 and 1748, respect- 
ing the purchase of lands) but Shikellimy was present, and by his moderate counsels 
aided in an amicable solution of the intricate questions with which these conferences 
were concerned. The acquaintance which Zinzendorf made with him was carefully 
followed up by the Brethren, and ripened into a friendship which ceased only with the 
death of the noble old chief, December 17, 1748. Zeisberger was with him when the 
end came. 

Meginness says : Shikellimy was in some respects one of the most remarkable abori- 
gines of whom we have any account. As he posssesed an executive mind and was 
recognized by his people as a man of more than ordinary ability, his counsel was 
eagerly sought by the government of the Six Nations ; and as this section of their con- 
federation was hard to govern, on account of the various tribes inhabiting it, and the 
conflicting interests which had to be regulated, he was early designated as leading Sa- 
chem or vicegerent. On account of his high standing and excellent judgment his influ- 
ence was courted by the provincial authorities. So great was his love for truth and 
justice that he never violated his word or condoned a crime. 

Shikellimy was succeeded by his son John (Tachnechtoris) as vicegerent, but he did 
not inherit his father's ability and his rule was a failure. Another of Shikellimy's sons 
was Logan, who became celebrated in the annals of border warfare by the famous 
speech attributed to him. 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 21 

how to build houses, etc. (Prov. Records, vii, 678.) Com- 
missioners were appointed "to construct a fort there, and 
build as many houses as shall be necessary for the present 
residence, security and protection of the Indians from their 
enemies." 

In the spring of 1758 Teedyuscung's town was finished. 
It stood within the present limits of Wilkes-Barre, at the 
bend of the river, near Hillman Academy. Scull's map of 
1759 notes it as Wioming. This was the last Indian set- 
tlement in the historic valley of the Six Nations. Here 
Teedyuscung was burnt in his lodge on the night of April 
19, 1763, and thence the Indians fled in October of the same 
year, after having struck the last blow for possession of the 
Great Plains when, on October 15, 1763, the occasion of the 
first massacre, they fell upon the whites, who, a year previ- 
ously, had come from Connecticut, and planted upon their 
"perpetual reserve." (Reichel.) 

THE FRONTIER WARS. 

A dozen years after Zinzendorf visited Wyoming Valley 
the pious Moravians saw their work among the Indians im- 
periled by frontier hostilities in which some of their converts 
allied themselves with the French in the work of rapine, 
bloodshed and torture. 

The time came when the question had to be settled as to 
whether the French or the English were to dominate the 
American continent. Both nations sought to secure the 
alliance of the Indian tribes. The French succeeded in win- 
ning the Shavvanese and Delawares dwelling on the Susque- 
hanna. The English, through the influence of Sir William 
Johnson, held the Mohawks, Oneidas and Tuscaroras, while 
most of the Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas remained 
neutral, though some went to the P>ench. 

The French war burst out in all its fury, and the frontier 
of Pennsylvania was desolated with torch and tomahawk. 



22 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

Intoxicated with victory over Braddock in 1755, the French 
and their Indian aUies made havoc in every settlement. The 
French at Fort Du Quesne (now Pittsburg) immediately 
dispatched war parties against the defenceless settlements. 
The French commander at that post reported that he had 
six or seven war parties in the field at once, always accom- 
panied by Frenchmen. " Thus far," he writes, "we have lost 
only two officers and a few soldiers, but the Indian villages 
are full of prisoners of every age and sex. The enemy has 
lost far more since the battle than on the day of his defeat." 

As the loss in the battle was about Soo, this French offi- 
cer means that perhaps 1,000 had been killed or captured 
in the blood-thirsty attacks on the frontier settlements along 
the Susquehanna and elsewhere. 

The Moravians, however, did not retire from the field, but 
they covenanted anew to be faithful to the Lord, and to press 
forward into the Indian country as long as it was possible, 
in spite of wars. 

Added to the panic which prevailed, the Pennsylvania 
government, either through ignorance or indifference, was 
unequal to the emergency, and no adequate measures were 
taken to repel the invasion by the Indians, who, in small 
skulking parties, murdered and burned, almost unresisted 
in the north and west of the province. 

Such Indians as were loyal to the English urged the 
Pennsylvania government to prompt and effective resistance, 
and the frontier settlers supplicated for protection. The 
Assembly was moved to action, and made an appropriation 
for the public defense, the funds to be raised by taxation on 
all estates, including those of the Penn Proprietaries. But 
the weak and vacillating governor vetoed the measure, on 
the ground that such taxation would embarrass the Proprie- 
taries, whose creature by appointment he was. 

The governor, however, entered into correspondence with 
the Proprietaries in London, and after several months had 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY, 23 

been thus wasted, so far as protecting the settlements was 
concerned, he obtained a subscription of ;^5,ooo from 
Thomas Penn for the defense fund, the Proprietary estates to 
be exempt from taxation. The Assembly then appropriated 
^55,000, and a very tardy campaign of resistance was begun. 
In the meantime the frontiers had been ravaged. 

The Indians who resided in the province of Pennsylvania 
at this time were composite in character. Some of them 
were savages, some were half-civilized, and some were 
"back- sliders" from the Moravian mission. Conspicuous 
among those who had once publicly renounced the ways of 
wickedness, and been baptized as Gideon, but who had now 
relapsed into savagery and taken up the hatchet against the 
English, was Teedyuscung, who had been chosen King of 
the Delawares at Wyoming. Zinzendorf 's visit to the Forks 
in 1742 had introduced the Brethren's missionaries into the 
homes of the Delawares, and under the influence of their 
preaching Teedyuscung had professed conversion and had 
been baptized with the Mohicans and Delawares at Gnaden- 
hutten. The Moravians distrusted him and put him on pro- 
bation, but he persisted in his purpose, and in 1750 Bishop 
Cammerhoff baptized him at the village on the Mahoning — 
a village that five years later was to be destroyed with all 
its inhabitants by bloodthirsty savages. 

The Delaware town at Nescopeck, on the Susquehanna, 
thirty miles below Wilkes-Barre, was made the rendezvous. 
Here Teedyuscung assembled his Delawares, Mohicans and 
Shawanese and marked out a plan of campaign. From this 
center the Indians, led by Teedyuscung himself, sallied forth 
on their marauds striking consternation into the hearts of 
the settlers. 

Mohican Abraham, the first convert of the Moravian mis- 
sion, also turned renegade, and it was these two chieftains 
who had prevailed with seventy of the Gnadenhiitten con- 
gregation to remove to Wyoming, in April of 1754, there to 



24 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

live neutral or to array themselves under the French stand- 
ard. Later, still others left Gnadenhiitten and joined the 
hostiles on the Susquehanna at Nescopeck. 

This double defection of Teedyuscung and Abraham 
caused great grief to the Moravians, for the evident purpose 
was to get the Gnadenhiitten converts away from the re- 
straining influences of their Moravian friends, who were seek- 
ing to keep them faithful. But even after the defection they 
were not abandoned by their shepherds, and Moravian 
teachers continued to visit them at Wyoming, even after the 
warriors had gone to the French. 

Bishop Spangenburg sent Schmick and Fry to Wyoming, 
where they arrived November lO, 1755, with a message to 
Paxinosa, the Shawanese chief, who remained the friend of 
the English. Paxinosa was requested to send to Shamokin, 
then in great danger, and bring Kiefer, the missionary black- 
smith there, to Wyoming, and then with Christian Frederick 
Post, who was stationed at Wyoming, all should return to 
Bethlehem. 

During the winter of 1755 the Indians held a war council 
at Wyoming, and in December occurred the massacre at 
Gnadenhiitten''* on the Mahoning. By the Gnadenhutten 
massacre the calumnies that the Moravians were in the 
French interest were forever disproved. The attacking party 
was made up of Monseys. Part of the converts fled to Beth- 
lehem and part to Wyoming. In Northampton county fifty 
houses were burned, one hundred persons killed and many 
carried into captivity. All this bloodshed was due to the 

14. Gnadenhutten (meaning cabins of grace) was in Carbon county, near where the 
Mahoning empties into the Lehigh. It was established by the Moravians in 1746 as a 
temporary home for their Mohican Indian converts who had been driven out of Connec- 
ticut. It had been the purpose to locate them permanently on the Susquehanna, but the 
project was postponed from time to time, and thus the settlement grew and became a 
flourishing mission. It had a grist-mill, saw-mill, blacksmith shop and farm buildings. 
Its population comprised 137 Mohicans and Delawares, besides nearly a hundred con- 
verts residing at Wyoming, Nescopeck and other villages along the Susquehanna. It 
came to a violent end in 1755, when it was destroyed by a war party of Shawanese, 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 25 

quarrel between the governor and the assembly in reference 
to levying on the Proprietary estates for a defence fund. To 
make the situation worse, such Indians as were friendly to 
the British interest were unsupported by the government, 
and were easily persuaded by presents to give their support 
to the French. Even John Shikellimy and his brother Lo- 
gan yielded to the French blandishments. But Andrew 
Montour and some others remained true. 

Paxinosa,^" who remained faithful to the English, sent a 
message to the governor urging him to send presents and 
wampum to Wyoming for the purpose of holding the Indi- 
ans to the English cause. 

He endeavored, though in vain, to prevent the Delawares 
and his own Shawanese from joining the French, and in this 
he was so urgent that they threatened his life, and he" and 
about thirty followers, including Abraham, retired to a vil- 
lage between Kingston and Plymouth (present Blindtown), 
where they remained until all the hostiles had departed. 

About this time, Buckshanoath, the Shawanese chief at 
Wyoming, led an attack on the provincial troops, who had 
been sent under Benjamin Franklin to erect Fort Allen on 
the Lehigh. Andrew Montour passed through Wyoming 
in December, 1755, sent by the governor with a message 
to Sir William Johnson in the Iroquois country, and he re- 
ported that the Wyoming Indians were preparing for war 
and refused to receive the peace belt which he offered them. 

"At the appointed time the paths between Wyoming and 

15. Paxinosa was, in 1754, the chief man in Wyoming. He was a Shawanese, and af- 
fected loyalty to the English, but was suspected of intrigue in the French interest. He 
was always well inclined to the Moravians, and had been a friend to them in several 
outbreaks along the Susquehanna. His wife was a baptised convert. In 175S here- 
moved to the Ohio country, where he was the last Shawanese king west of the Alle- 
ghanies. His wife was the half-sister of Ben Nutimaes, and had lived with her husband 
thirty-eight years, to whom she had borne eight children, "a remarkable instance of 
the longevity of the marriage tie among Indians." Paxinosa said he vv'as born on the 
Ohio. The Historian of Easton pronounces his one of the highest names in Indian 
history, and says that while women and children were falling under the murderous 
hatchet of Teedyuscung, the peaceful Delawares and Shawanese gathered around King 
Paxinosa in the primeval forests of the Wyoming Valley. 



26 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

the Delaware, over which the missionaries had so often car- 
ried the white flag of peace and good-will, were crowded 
with hostile savages." Teedyuscung at the head of a scout- 
ing party penetrated into New Jersey, and even approached 
within a few miles of Easton, Pa. During the winter Tee- 
dyuscung captured a half dozen settlers in the Delaware 
region and passed through Wyoming with them on the way 
north. The captives were kept all winter at Tunkhannock, 
where were one hundred other prisoners. They were after- 
wards taken to Tioga and held until November, 1756, when 
a treaty was held at Easton and the captives were liberated. 
In order to check the atrocities the governor offered boun- 
ties for Indian scalps — men, women and children — against 
which the Moravians protested vigorously, but in vain. 

About this time (1755) Zeisberger and Seidel visited 
Wyoming. Christian Frederick Post had established him- 
self there to minister to the converts and entertain visiting 
missionaries. A famine was prevailing, and the first care of 
Zeisberger and Seidel was to relieve Post's wants and those 
of the Indians by going back to Shamokin for supplies. 
Then they began to preach the gospel to a tribe of Mofiseys 
on the Lackawanna. 

The Indians in the French interest penetrated to within a 
few miles of the Susquehanna and perpetrated the bloody 
massacre at Penn's Creek, which was within six miles of 
Shamokin. 

The last to leave Shamokin was the brave blacksmith, 
Kiefer, who stuck to his post until peremptorily recalled 
by Bishop Spangenburg. He was escorted up the river to 
Nescopeck by old Shikellimy's son John, the new viceroy, 
and passing through Wyoming he reached Bethlehem in 
safety. 

With the burning of the buildings by the Indians the Mo- 
ravian mission at Shamokin came to an end. The reign of 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 27 

terror was complete, and it was a dozen years before any 
settlers dared venture upon the bloody ground. 

In March, 1756, the government, finding itself unable to 
protect the frontiers against these Indian raids, determined 
to conciliate Teedyuscung, and after a conference at Easton 
in July a treaty v/as signed by which the warrior made peace 
with the whites. In bringing about this conference messages 
were taken from the governor to the Delawares at Wyo- 
ming and other Indians on the Susquehanna by the famous 
Indian scout, Newcastle, the Moravian Indian, George Rex, 
and two other Indians, as shown by the "Account of the 
Brethren with the Commissioners" in Reichel's Memorials. 

"On these occasions Teedyuscung stood up as the cham- 
pion of his people, fearlessly demanding restitution for their 
lands, and in addition the free exercise of the right to select, 
within the territory in dispute, a permanent home. 

"Teedyuscung's imposing presence, his earnestness of 
appeal, and his impassioned oratory, as he plead the cause 
of his long-injured people, evoked the admiration of his ene- 
mies themselves. It would appear from the published 
minutes of the conferences that the English artifully attempt- 
ed to conciliate him by fair speeches and uncertain promises, 
but the Indian king was astute and sagacious, and they 
yielded to the terms he laid down. These were : compen- 
sation for all lands unjustly taken, Wyoming to be their 
permanent home and a town to be built there for them at the 
expense of the government, all the Indians to remove from 
Tioga, and they to be supplied with missionaries and 
teachers." 

The Nanticokes went to Lancaster to remove the bones 
of their dead to the North, while the Senecas, Delawares, 
Shawanese and Mohicans returned with their presents to 
Tioga. "Teedyuscung with his sons and warriors remained 
at Easton and Bethlehem to watch and oppose the move- 
ments of the French and hostile Indians from the Ohio who 



28 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

were prowling on the frontiers. He also gave audience to 
wild embassies from the Indian country. Occasionally he 
would visit Philadelphia to confer with the governor. Thus the 
dark winter passed," says Reichel, "and when the swelling of 
maple buds and the whitening of the shadbush on the river's 
bank foretokened the event of spring, there were busy prep- 
arations for their long-expected removal to the Indian El 
Dorado on the flats of the winding Susquehanna. It was 
in the corn-planting month, 1758, when the Delaware king, 
his queen, and his warriors, led by the provincial commis- 
sioners and under escort of fifty soldiers, took up the line of 
march for Fort Allen, on the Lehigh, beyond there to strike 
the Indian trail that led over the mountains by way of Nes- 
copeck to Wyoming Valley." 

Thus, with Teedyuscung conciliated, the First Indian 
War, sometimes called the French War, was over, and the 
frontiers of Pennsylvania were exempt from serious hostili- 
ties for several years. The Moravians re-established their 
stations at Wyoming and other points, and there was every 
prospect of a lasting peace. But the hope was a vain one. 

The Pennsylvania government, in compliance with the 
promise to Teedyuscung, built a village for him where is 
now Wilkes-Barre. These were the first houses ever built 
by white people in the Wyoming Valley. There he lived 
five years with such of the Indians as had not remove else- 
where, until the spring of 1763, when he was burned to 
death in his cabin. It is said he was in a drunken stupor, 
for his weakness was strong drink, and his cowardly assas- 
sination is attributed to the Iroquois, who hated him because 
he had opposed their lust of power. The killing of Teedy- 
uscung was part of a new uprising — the Second Indian war. 
With the tragic death of the king of the Delawares, the In- 
dian occupancy of the Wyoming Valley ceases, and with 
the abandonment of the region by his followers a few months 
later, there comes to an end the faithful missionary work of 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 29 

the Moravians. The emigration from Connecticut to Wyo- 
ming had now set in. 

The charge was circulated that it was the Connecticut 
people who had murdered Teedyuscung. Whether the In- 
dians believed this groundless story or not is unknown, but 
they may have done so, for they swept down on the young 
settlement in the autumn of 1763 and exterminated it. But 
it was, perhaps, only an every day border raid. This was 
the first massacre of Wyoming.^^ Dr. William H. Egle, 
author of the History of Pennsylvania, says "the infamous 
transaction was carried out by those infernal red savages 
from New York, the Cayugas and Oneidas ;" but Oscar J. 
Harvey has discovered in the Thomas Addis Emmett collec- 
tion an autograph letter of Sir William Johnson stating that 
the attack on Wyoming was by Delawares, and was led by 
Captain Bull (a son of Teedyuscung), who was at that time 
ravaging the frontier in the French interest. The Johnson 
letter mentions that Captain Bull was subsequently captured 
by the English. 

At this point we dismiss the Indian occupancy of Wyo- 
ming, so far as its general history is concerned, and enter 
upon a consideration of some of the missionary journeys 
which the Moravians from Bethlehem made to the Wyo- 
ming Indians. 

The Moravian missionaries (says Reichel) prudently re- 
frained from any effort to wean the Indians from their 
usages unless these were sinful. Thus while the converts 
were Indians, they continued to be Indians, following the 
pursuits and retaining many of the manners and customs in 
which their fathers before them had engaged. Accordingly 
the men preferred the hunt to the farm, and the women 
were choppers of wood and laborers in the field. The men 

16. In the slaughter of 1763 perished Rev. William Marsh, a Baptist preacher, who 
was the first clergyman sent out with the Connecticut settlers. 



30 COUNT ZINZEMDORF 

often engaged in fishing, and the Wyalusing diary records 
that two thousand shad were caught in nets in a single night. 
The missionaries themselves adopted the Indian dress and 
manners so far as they could, and in numerous instances 
they learned the Indian language. 

From the time of Zinzendorf 's visit in 1742, two years 
elapsed before any recorded effort was made to establish a 
Moravian station at Wyoming. In April, 1744, John Mar- 
tin Mack and Christian Froelich^'' set out from Bethlehem. 
Mack had been one of Zinzendorf 's party. Their route was 
by way of the Lehigh Water Gap, above which they crossed 
the river, and near Lehighton struck the great Indian trail'^ 
leading northwest over Quakake, Buck and Nescopeck 
Mountains to the Indian town of Wapwallopen. The Mo- 
ravian missionaries invariably write the latter word Wa7?ib- 
hallobank, or Hallobank. Heckewelder translates it as 
"where the white hemp grows," They were a week making 

17. Christian Froehlich was from Felsburg in Hesse, and came to America in 1741. 
He wus a con6ectioner by trade, and in that capacity he served for a thne in the Zin- 
zendorf family. 

18. The Indian paths usually followed the streams. The one along the north branch 
of the Susquehanna River was a great highway or warpath, and was the one usually 
followed by the Six Nations in;their marauds against the southern tribes. From Wy- 
oming there led numerous paths: 

Warrior's path, leaving the Valley by Solomon's Creek, crossing the mountain in 
the vicinity of Glen Summit, and striking the Lehigh at White Haven. 

A path from Wyoming to the Delaware. 

A path up Shickshinny Creek, then directly west to Muncy, fifty miles from Wilkes- 
Barre. This path was intersected by one coming from Wyalusing through Bradford 
and Sullivan counties. 

A path from Wyoming passed up the east side of the Lackawanna to present Scran- 
ton, where stood a Mousey village. Here the path divided, one branch going north to 
Oquago, Windsor county, N. Y.,the other going east to the Delaware at Cochecton. 
This was the route which the first settlers from Connecticut took in coming to Wyo- 
ming. 

There was a path to Wyoming which started from Muncey, ran up Glade Run, then 
crossed Fishing Creek at Millville. thence to Nescopeck Gap and up the river to Wyo- 
ming. 

One of the paths from Wyoming to Bethlehem was from the Susquehanna up Nesco- 
peck Creek, passing Sugarloaf in Conyngham Valley, crossing the Buck Mountain 
west of Hazleton, near Audenreid, then across the Quakake Valley and over Mauch 
Chunk Mountain to Lehigh Gap. 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 3 1 

their journey from Bethlehem to Wyoming, owing to almost 
constant snow storms. They spent four days at Wyoming, 
their entire absence from Bethlehem covering two weeks. 

The journal here given has never before been published. 
It is copied from an English manuscript at Bethlehem, 
doubtless a translation of the original diary in German. As 
printed in these pages the diar)^ is somewhat condensed, 
but enough is given to show how much of pious reflection 
was injected into these daily records of missionary life. The 
"watchword" to which they refer is the text for the day as 
arranged for each year by the Moravian authorities and 
published to the present time. Sometimes the watchword 
happened to fit the events of the day in a most striking 
manner. This is shown in the diary for April 6 and April 19. 

DIARY OF BR. JOHN MARTIN MACK's AND CHRISTIAN FROELICH's 
JOURNEY TO WAYOMICK AND HALLOBANCK. 

1744. April 6. — We set out from our dearly beloved 
Mother from Bethlehem. The elders prayed over us and 
gave us their blessing for our journey. Our hearts were 
melted into tears under the grace we felt at our parting. The 
watchword was : "And I will make with them a covenant 
of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the 
land ; and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness and 
sleep in the woods." Ezek. 34: 25. We set forward happy 
and rejoiced over the grace that is felt in his church. In 
the evening we came to the stream Buckabuka.^^ The 
creek was very cold, but we got safely through, and found 
an old Indian cabin in which we lodged. We made a fire. 
Brother Christian was cook. We had a good night's lodg- 
ing and thanked our Lord for it. 

7th. — In the morning early it began to rain. We went 

19. It is given on Scull's map of 1770 as Pocopoco, near site of Gnadenhutten. It emp- 
ties into the Lehigii (east bank) near present Parry ville and Weissport, Carbon 
county. Fort Allen stood near here, opposite mouth of the Mahoning. 



32 COUNT ZINZENDOKF 

our way nevertheless, but fearing the Lehigh might be too 
high for us to cross. There came an Indian to us who 
knew me. He was going the same way we were. He went 
on ahead of us and told us the way we should take. We 
came to a very deep creek, but we got safe through. After 
going a little ferther we came to the Lehigh. We tried to 
wade it. It was so extremely cold that at first we thought 
it impossible for us to endure it. When we got about the 
middle, it was so deep and the stream so strong that I 
thought every minute it would bear me down, and my 
feet stuck between two great rocks. I could cheerfully 
tell our Savior that I was his, here in the water, and for 
Him and His kingdom's sake I went through this. I im- 
mediately got strength and courage, went on again, took 
Brother Christian by the coat and helped him through. We 
thanked the Lamb that he had so happily preserved us, as 
we were wet and cold and it rained very hard. We kept 
going, thinking thereby to warm ourselves. When we had 
gone about 12 miles we made a little fire, but could not 
make it burn because it snowed so hard. The cold pierced 
us a little because we were through and through wet. We 
cut wood all night long to prevent our being frozen to 
death. It snowed all night. 

8th. — The snow lay on the ground a foot and a half deep, 
and before us we had great rocks and mountains to climb. 
One could see but little of the way, and in many places 
none at all. We warmed ourselves a little walking, but 
were very tired, the snow being so deep. After dinner we 
came to an old hut where some Indians were, who were 
going to Wyoming. We lodged with them. It was very 
cold this night. We spent our time in making fire and try- 
ing to keep warm. 

9th. — We and the Indians set out together. It was very 
cold the whole day. We were obliged to wade two creeks. 
They were extremely cold. Brother Christian carried me 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 33 

through one because it was deep and I was not very well. 
I felt the cold in my limbs much. We were very happy all 
this day, and we prayed the Lamb that he should make his 
wounds, which he had received for this poor nation, mani- 
fest in this place where he had now sent us to. In the even- 
ing we concluded we were about 6 miles from Hallobanck 
(Wapwallopen). We lay in the woods again. It was very 
cold. We spent most of the night in making fire. 

loth. — Early in the morning we set forward and came to 
Hallobanck. We went into the king's house, but he was 
not very friendly. Nevertheless he would not bid us be 
gone. We were tired, and were sleepy and hungry. Our 
hearts lay before the Lamb and prayed for this poor people, 
that we might obtain the end for which He had sent us 
hither. We were soon visited by ten Indians, who were 
all painted but were very friendly towards us, and some of 
them gave us their hands. Brother Christian baked some 
Httle cakes made of Indian meal in the ashes, which we rel- 
ished well. The Indians with whom we traveled and left 
behind this morning, came about two hours after us and 
brought three caggs [kegs] of rum. They soon began to 
prepare for dancing and drinking. There came also an old 
Indian with a cagg [keg] in the cabin where we were. The 
Indian with whom we had been a little acquainted on the 
way came to us and said there would be nothing but drink- 
ing and revelry all night in the cabin and we should be dis- 
turbed by it. If we wished we might lodge in his hut, about 
half a mile from thence. We accepted with many thanks. 
His wife is a clever woman and has a love for us also. 

nth. — We were visited in the cabin by the drunken In- 
dians, who looked very dangerous, and endeavored by many 
ways to trouble us. Our Indian host, though drunk him- 
self, would not permit them to injure us. There was a 
great noise and disturbance among us all night long, and 



34 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

they would take no rest until they had drunk all the rum 
which had been brought over the mountain. 

1 2th. — Towards morning they all laid themselves down 
to sleep away their drunkenness, but we prepared for 
setting forward to Wayomick. Our hostess had baked a 
few cakes for us to take on our way. We had a most 
blessed journey. The Lamb was near to us. We could 
speak openheartedly together, and loved one another ten- 
derly, rejoiced together in hope of the Indians' happiness in 
these parts ; came in good time opposite to Wayomick, but 
could not cross the Susquehanna that night, because there 
was no canoe there. We had a sweet night's lodging un- 
der a great tree. 

13th. — Early we crossed over to Wayomick.^" We were 
received in a very friendly manner. We immediately found 
the Chikasaw Indian, Chickasi, with whom we had been ac- 
quainted two years ago when Brother Lewis [Zinzendorf ] 
was there. He was very friendly toward us and gave us 
something to eat. He asked where Brother Lewis and his 
daughter were. I told him they were gone to Europe. He 
asked if they arrived safe there. I said yes. He was much 
rejoiced at that. He said he had thought much on him 
and his daughter. We lodged with his cousin, who received 
us in much love and friendship and gave us of the best he 
had. We found very few Indians there, and those who 
remained there looked much dejected. They were in num- 
ber only seven men. There has been a surprising change 
in Wayomick since two years ago, at which time there were 
30 or 40 cabins all full of Indians, whose great noise one 
could hear two or three miles off. Now one hardly hears 
anything stir there ; about six or seven cabins are left, the 
others are all pulled to pieces. How often did I call to 
mind how Brother Lewis said at that time: "The Shawa- 
nese Indians will all remove in a short time, and our Savior 

20. The trip which occupied them a week is now made by rail in three hours. 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 35 

will bring another people here who shall be acquainted with 
His wounds, and they shall build a City of Grace there to 
the honor of the Lamb." How my heart rejoiceth now at 
the thoughts of it because I see that everything is pre- 
paring for it. We visited carefully all the places where 
our tent had been pitched two years ago, and where 
so many tears had been shed. The Lamb has numbered 
them all and put them in His bottle. We stayed there four 
days. The Indians loved us. Our walk and behavior 
preached amongst them and showed that we loved them. 
They could heartily believe and realize that we had not 
come amongst them for our own advantage, but out of love 
to them. We visited them often. I asked the Indian with 
whom we were acquainted, if they would like a brother 
whom they loved much to come and live amongst them 
some time or other, and tell them sometimes of our 
great God who loved mankind so much ? They answered 
yes, they should be very glad, but they themselves could 
not decide it, because the land belonged to the Five Na- 
tions, and they only lived thereon by permission. The In- 
dians who are still here are, as it were, prisoners. They 
dare not go far away. 

The watchword when we came to Wayomick was very 
suitable : 'T will have mercy upon the house of Judah, and 
will save them by the Lord their God, and will not save 
them by bow, nor by battle, by horses nor by horsemen." 

1 6th. — We prepared for returning. The woman made us 
again some little cakes to take with us on the way. Our 
host prayed that if ever we should come this way again we 
should certainly lodge with him, saying he was an excellent 
huntsman and shot many deer and bears, and he would 
give us meat enough to eat. We took leave, and one of 
them set us over the river. After dinner we came again to 
Hallobanck and went to our old hosts again. Our hostess 
set victuals immediately before us, and we were hungry. 



36 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

17th. — We visited all the Indians. They were very cool 
and shy toward us, because they have been told by the 
white people that we seek by cunning to draw the Indians 
on our side, which, when effected, we intend to make them 
slaves. 

1 8th. — We visited them again. We visited the king also, 
thinking we might have opportunity to speak something 
with him concerning the end of our coming to him ; but we 
found he had no ears and therefore desisted. 

19th. — We got up early. Our hostess was very civil and 
showed us much love. We took leave of them and set for- 
wards. The woods were on fire all around us, so that in 
many places it looked very terrible, and many times we 
scarce knew how to get through. The burning trees fell 
down all about. We could not easily get out of the way, 
because there are such high mountains on each side. Af- 
ter dinner we came between two great mountains, and the 
fire burnt all around us, and made a prodigious crackling. 
Before us there was sent such a great flame that we were a 
little afraid to go through it, and we could find no other 
way to escape it. Brother Christian went first through. 
The flame went quite over his head ; it looked a little dis- 
mal. He got through but I did not know it, because I 
could not see him for the smoke. I called to him ; he an- 
swered me immediately. I thought I would wait a little 
longer till it was burnt away a little more, but the fire grew 
still fiercer. He called again and prayed me to come 
through, saying our dear Savior had promised "When thou 
walkest through the fire thou shalt not be burnt, neither 
shall the flame kindle upon thee." I ventured and went 
cheerfully into the flame, and got safe through. We 
thanked the Lamb for it, that he had preserved us so in the 
fire. We went over two great mountains. We laid ourselves 
to rest, and had a happy night together, and thanked our 
Lamb with an humble heart that he had this day also led 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 37 

and preserved us through water and fire, over rocks and 
mountains. We were very tired, but could nevertheless 
rest well. When we came to Bethlehem we found that the 
watchword for that day had been: "When thou passest 
through the waters I will be with thee ; and through the 
rivers they shall not overflow thee ; when thou walkest 
through the fire thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the 
flame kindle upon thee. Fire, hail, snow, vapor and stormy 
wind are servants of His will." 

20th. — We set out early and soon came to the Lehigh, 
which we went through. The water did not seem as cold 
as it did the first time. We crossed two other creeks. We 
had still a great way to Bethlehem, and were very tired. In 
the evening we reached Bethlehem where the brethren and 
sisters were met together. Brother Spangenburg spoke on 
the watchword. 

Your poor brethren, Martin & Christian. 

In 1745 the Moravians had established a Mohican mis- 
sion at Shecomeko, in Duchess county, N. Y., on the edge 
of Connecticut, but it had been suppressed by the New 
York authorities (on account of unfounded suspicions that 
the Moravians were not loyal to the English but were se- 
cretly intriguing with the French), and a project was set on 
foot by the Moravian Church to transfer the harrassed She- 
comeko converts to the Valley of Wyoming. 

The harsh action of the authorities, afterwards recognized 
as wrong by those very authorities, necessitated negotia- 
tions with the Iroquois Confederacy, to whose dependen- 
cies Wyoming belonged. 

A visit was accordingly made to Onondaga by Bishop 
Spangenburg, Zeisberger^^ and a converted Indian, Schebosh, 

21. David Zeisberger was a missionary for 62 years among the Indians. Prompted 
by a spirit of adventure he left Herrnhut, Germany, when a youth of 17. He was born 
in I72i,and came to America in 1738 to escape religious persecution. He became a 
missionary at the age of 25, and never relinquished the task until his death in Ohio in 



38 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

and Conrad Weisser, who had been commissioned by Penn- 
sylvania to treat with the Six Nations. Having assembled 
at the Forks at Shamokin (Sunbury) they spent a week 
preaching to the Indians and to Madame Montour. 

After being joined by Andrew Montour, and Shikellimy 
and one of his sons, they passed up the West Branch and 
thence to Onondaga. While on the march Spangenburg, 
Zeisberger and Schebosh were formally adopted into the 
Iroquois Confederacy and given Indian names. 

They arrived at Onondaga June 17, and on the 20th the 
Council was held. Bishop Spangenburg proposed to re- 
new the friendship established with the Six Nations by 
Count Zinzendorf and asked permission to begin a settle- 
ment for Christian Indians at Wyoming, which was granted. 

The presence of Conrad Weisser, who accompanied Span- 
genburg, was most opportune. If he had arrived a week 
later, the sachems would have been in Canada listening to 

1808, at the age of 87. His record for long and faithful service, and for cheerful sub- 
mission to deprivation, probably has no equals in missionary annals. He was able to 
speak ten Indian languages. 

A striking painting in the archives of the Moravian Historical Society at Bethlehem, 
Pa., is entitled "The Power of the Gospel," and represents David Zeisberger preach- 
ing to the Indians. It has been made familiar to many by an admirable steel engraving 
by John Sartain. In order to facilitate the engraver in his work, the painter, Charles 
Schussele, furnished Mr. Sartain with the black and white study which had been the 
basis of the painting. Mr. Sartain kindly loaned the compiler of this pamphlet the 
black and white, and from it the illustration has been reproduced by half-tone process. 

"The subject is one that might well inspire a Christian painter. It is David Zeisber- 
ger, one of the most devoted missionaries that ever lived, preaching to a group of In- 
dians. The erect figure of the zealous Apostle of tlie Indians is seen in the attitude of 
proclaiming the Word of life to the untamed children of the forest in their native wilds, 
who listen attentively in picturesque groups around the fire which throws its light on 
the whole scene. The picture is a most suggestive object lesson on missionary work, 
to which Zeisberger devoted more than sixty years of his life. Nothing short of color 
can present any adequate impression of the original painting. The ruddy glow of the 
central fire — the strong light thrown upon the figures grouped immediately around it, 
and especially upon the great missionary himself, who stands with uplifted hands in 
the attitude of earnest pleading — the conflicting feelings visible on the faces of the 
chiefs and warriors, and the eager receptivity of some of the Indian women — the deep 
shadows that fall upon the outer circle of his listeners — and the dense darkness of the 
forest in which their nocturnal assemblage is gathered — all these are brought out by 
the painting as only genius handling color can portray them. By night and by day 
that scene must have taken place hundreds of times during Zeisberger's apostolic min- 
istry to roving tribes of over sixty years." 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 39 

the persuasions of the French. But now they were pledged 
to neutrality and the efforts of the French were of no avail. 

While the mission of Spangenburg was successful to the 
extent of gaining the consent of the Six Nations to remove 
the Indian converts to Wyoming, the latter refused to go, 
stating "that Wajomick lay in the road of the Six Nations 
on their marauds southward in the country of the Cataw- 
bas ; furthermore in a country abounding in savages where 
the women were so wanton as to seduce the men." 

In 1746 the unfriendliness of the white settlers had in- 
creased to such an extent that the Shecomeco converts 
were removed, not to Wyoming, where they would be sur- 
rounded with restless Indians, but to Bethlehem, where they 
were given a temporary home. Within the limits of present 
Bethlehem they built a village called Friedenshiitten, or 
Houses of Peace. A permanent home was shortly provided 
for them and called Gnadenhutten (Houses of Grace), in 
present Carbon county, at Mahoning Creek, on the Lehigh, 
near Lehighton. Between this new Christian Indian village 
and Wyoming there was constant inrercourse. 

"Hungry savages," says Pearce, "in times of scarcity, 
flocked to Gnadenhutten, professing Christianity and filling 
themselves at the tables of the pious missionaries. When 
the season for hunting came, they would return to the wil- 
derness in the pursuit of game, and with the profits of the 
chase would procure liquor from heartless traders. 

"Some, however, were sincere in their professions and died 
in the faith. The Moravian missionaries were given Indian 
names, and proclaimed the Gospel on both branches of the 
Susquehanna, on the Lackawanna and throughout north- 
eastern Pennsylvania wherever the smoke ascended from 
the rude bark wigwam." 

During 1746 Bishop Spangenburg visited at Wyoming to 
preach, and also to establish a covenant of friendship with 
the Mohicans, to which nation most of the Moravian Indians 



40 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

belonged. He was accompanied by two Mohican converts 
from Friedenshiitten, near Bethlehem, and was well received 
by the Indians of Wyoming. 

GREAT FAMINE OF 1 748. 

Shamokin being an important town on the principal In- 
dian trail to the south, it was considered a desirable point 
for the establishment of a Moravian mission. The plan was 
suggested by Conrad Weisser, it being to establish a black- 
smith shop, at which fire-arms (recently introduced) might 
be repaired without requiring the Indians to go to the dis- 
tant settlements. The step was a most politic one, and it 
became a strong bond of union between the missionaries 
and the friendly Indians. The latter had previously peti- 
tioned the colonial government to establish a smithy in 
Shamokin, and the Moravian suggestion was cordially ac- 
quiesced in, and the smithy was accordingly established in 
April, 1747, the Indians promising to remain friendly. 
Zeisberger was appointed to the work at Shamokin as assist- 
ant to Martin Mack. The two visited Wyoming in 1748. 
In July of that year they explored both branches of the 
Susquehanna. Zeisberger having now mastered the Mohawk 
language, had begun to prepare an Iroquois dictionary, 
with Shikellimy assisting. The Indians were found in a 
deplorable condition. The West Branch was desolate from 
smallpox in every village. They followed the North Branch 
as far as Wyoming and found a famine prevailing. The 
diary of this journey is to be found in the Pejin^^thmma 
Ma^azvie of History , January. 1893, page 430. Following 
are quotations : 

"July 22, 1748. Early this morning we set out up the 
north branch of the Susquehanna. At noon lost path, as 
we took the one that leads to the woods, which the Indians 
take on their hunts. Towards evening recovered right 
trail. Lodged for the night near the river. It began to 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 4I 

rain hard, and the water swept down the hillside so strongly 
that we feared we would be washed into the Susquehanna. 
Had no hut and could get no bark. 

"July 23. Proceeded through the rain and towards noon 
came to a Tudeler town, where we hoped to dry ourselves, 
but found all drunk. Continued on our way a few miles, 
when we built a fire and dried and warmed ourselves. By 
evening reached Nescopeck, and were taken over the river 
in a canoe. Found few at home, but were taken into a hut, 
where we dried ourselves, and supperless retired to rest. 

"July 24. Our host cooked us some wild beans. We 
gave the old man in turn of our bread. He informed us 
that his people had gone among the whites to obtain food. 

"July 25. Resumed our journey and came to Wapvval- 
lopen. Found only one family at home, which boiled the 
bark of trees for food. All the others had been driven by 
famine to the white settlements. At night we camped at 
the lower end of the flats of Wyomick. 

"July 26. Arose early and proceeded up the flats. Peo- 
ple decrepid and scarcely able to walk, and in danger of 
starvation. Lodged in one of the huts. 

"July 27. Crossed the river and visited the Nanticokes, 
who moved here last spring from Chesapeake Bay, and 
found them clever, modest people. They, too, complained 
of the famine, and told us that their young people had been 
gone several weeks to the settlements to procure food. In 
the evening the Nanticokes set us over the river. Visited 
some old people; also an old man who fetched some wood 
to make a fire in his hut. He was so weak as to be com- 
pelled to crawl on hands and knees. Mack made the fire, 
much to the gratitude of the aged invalid. 

"July 28. Found our host this morning busy painting 
himself. He painted his face all red and striped his shirt 
and moccasins with the same color. Set out on our return 
journey ; passed Wapwallopen, and thence over the coun- 



42 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

try, across Wolf mountain, to Gnadenhiitten, which we 
reached July 30," 

In October, 1748, Baron John de Watteville, a bishop of 
the Moravian Church, son-in-law and principal assistant of 
Count Zinzendorf, arrived from Europe on an official visit, 
and one of the first things he undertook was a visit to the 
Indian country. He was accompanied by Cammerhoff, Mack 
and Zeisberger, the latter as interpreter. Having visted 
Gnadenhiitten, they proceeded along the great trail to Wyo- 
ming, which they reached four days later. 

A year previous to this journey de Watteville married 
Benigna de Zinzendorf, daughter of the Count, now a young 
woman of 21, who had braved the perils of the wilderness 
with her father four years earlier when he made his mis- 
sionary journey to Wyoming and other points. Benigna 
died at Herrnhut in 1789. 

Reichel says of de Watteville's journey to Wyoming: 

"Exploring the lovely valley which opened to their view, 
they found the plain of Skehantowano, where Zinzendorf 's 
tent had first been pitched ; the hill where God had deliv- 
ered him from the fangs of the adder, and the spot where 
the Shawanese had watched him with murderous design. 
The very tree was still standing on which he had graven 
the initials of his Indian name. 

"Among the inhabitants, however, many changes had 
taken place. The majority of the Shawanese had gone to 
the Ohio, and but few natives of any other tribe remained, 
with the exception of Nanticokes. 

" Watteville faithfully proclaimed the Gospel, and on the 
the 7th of October was celebrated the Lord's Supper, the 
first time the holy sacrament was administered in the Wyo- 
ming Valley. The hymns of the little company swelled 
solemnly through the night, while the Indians stood listen- 
ing in silent awe at the doors of their wigwams. And when 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 43 

they heard the voice of the stranger hfted up in earnest in- 
tercession, as had been Zinzendorf's voice in that same 
region six years before, they felt that the white man was 
praying that they might learn to know his God." 

From Wyoming the travelers passed down the Susque- 
hanna on horseback to Shamokin, stopping on the way at 
Wapwallopen, Nescopeck and Skogari. The latter was in 
present Columbia county, and is described by de Schwei- 
nitz as being the only town on the whole continent inhabit- 
ed by Tutelees or Tudelars, a degenerate remnant of thieves 
and drunkards. 

A curious fact related in de Watteville's journaP is, that 
at an Indian town near Wilkes-Barre he found the governor 
a possessor of negro slaves. He also relates that on the 
fertile flat lands of Wyoming Valley the grass grew so tall 
that it was difficult to see over it, even when riding on his 
horse. 

"October 6, 1748. From the top of a high mountain we 
had our first view of the beautiful and extensive flats of 
Wyoming, and the Susquehanna winding through them. It 
was the most charming prospect my eyes had ever seen. 
Beyond them stretched a line of blue mountains high up, 
back of which passes the road to Onondaga through the 
savage wilderness towards Tioga. We viewed the scene for 
several minutes in silent admiration, then descended the 
precipitous mountain side, past a spring, until we got into 
the valley. 

"Up this we pursued our way and came to the first Indian 
huts of Wyoming, where formerly lived one Nicholas, a 

22. The journal of de Watteville is furnished by John W.Jordan, and was never before 
printed. Mr. Jordan has written much on the subject of Moravian missions in Penn- 
sylvania. Among his writings is a manuscript volume of sixty-seven pages, relating 
entirely to the Wyoming Valley. In it are extracts of diaries describing missionary 
journeys from 1745 to 1768, with numerous annotations. It is in the Historical Society 
of Pennsylvania, and has been much drawn upon for the present pamphlet. Mr. Jor- 
dan has also edited various diaries for The Moravian and for the Pennsylvania Mag- 
azine. 



44 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

famous Indian conjurer and medicine man. Since his death 
the huts stand empty. Moving on we crossed a creek and 
soon came to the Susquehannah, up which we went a mile, to 
a point where we forded the stream to an island and crossed 
to the west bank. The river was low and all got through 
without difficulty. Came to some cabins inhabited by Tus- 
caroras, whose squaws only were at home, and thence into 
the great flats, striking the path wdiich Zinzendorf had fol- 
lowed. 

"Cammerhoff and myself kept in our saddles, the better 
to get a view of the flats. But the grass was so high at 
times as to overtop us, though mounted, and I never be- 
held such a beautiful expanse of land. We next came to 
the place where the old Shawanese king dwelt, which at 
that time, 1742, was a large town. Now there is only one 
cabin in which Shawanese reside. 

"Farther on we came to ten huts, where the present cap- 
tain, who is a Chickasaw Indian, lives. He was not at 
home, but was recently gone to war against the Catawbas, 
with six other warriors. His wife, who is a Shawanese, re- 
membered the Count, and would have us take lodgings 
with her. Because of our horses we were compelled to de- 
cline her kind offer. We pitched our tents on the spot where 
Chickasi (in whom the Count had been so interested in 
1742) lived. He, too, remembered the Count, and was very 
friendly. 

" Chickasi is at present living with the Nanticokes across 
the river. Our hostess sent for him, as he spoke English. 
He came without delay, and I gave him a greeting from 
Johanon [the name given by the Indians to Zinzendorf]. 

" Meanwhile all Wyoming on our side of the river had 
congregated, some 16 persons, large and small, Chickasaws 
and Shawanese. They manifested great interest in our ad- 
vent, and sincere friendship for us. 

"October 7. — Rode to the spot which the Count had se- 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 45 

lected for the site of a Moravian Indian town [it was to 
have been called Gnadenstadt], and then crossed the creek 
[into which the Count fell, see p. 17], and on which creek 
the proposed mill for the Moravian town was to be built. 
Next we came to the spot where the tent was pitched the 
first time. [Place of blowing adders.] 

"Here in the bark of a tree we found the initial J [for Jo- 
hanan, or Zinzendorf], and C [for Conrad Weisser]. I cut 
an A for Anna Nitschmann and also 1742 and 1748. 

"Fording the river, we found a Mohican cabin at the end 
of an island, but no one excepting children were at home. 

" Rode over the flats until we came to some Tuscarora 
huts. Re-crossing to our camp, we found Zeisberger had 
been called on by many Indians. They said some months 
ago a trader had wished to settle in Wyoming and had 
planted corn, but the Indians, finding him thievish, had ex- 
pelled him, the Nanticokes having bought his improve- 
ments. Not far from the Count's third camping place we 
were pointed out the burial place of an ancient and wholly 
exterminated nation of Indians, and on the south side of the 
Susquehanna stood a respectable orchard of apple trees, 
near which some 70 to 80 Indians, who were swept off a 
iew years ago by epidemic dysentery, lay buried. 

"Captain's wife gave us four loaves of bread and two large 
watermelons. We gave them in return a pair of silver 
buckles. In the afternoon visited the Chickasaw town and 
saw a newly-carved god elevated on a pole. Visited from 
hut to hut and found an aged Shawanese couple who were 
almost centenarians six years ago. We next visited the Nan- 
ticokes who live on the island. Unable to get a canoe, we got 
our horses and forded the stream without saddle or bridle. 
Left our horses in care of a sick Chickasaw, who under- 
stood some English, and then visited the Count's Chicka- 
saw, whose forehead is flattened back like a Catawba's. He 



46 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

was gathering his little crop of tobacco, and had little in- 
terest in religious matters. Gave him a knife as a token. 

"Came to the Nanticoke town of ten huts. Most of the 
men were on the hunt. One of the old men was very- 
friendly. Gave him a pipe tube. Some of the Nanticokes 
asked if we were traders and wanted to barter. The Nan- 
ticokes appear to be more industrious than other Indians. 
They moved from Chesapeake Bay not long ago, by order of 
the Five Nations. They passed Shamokin last June and are 
settled here right comfortably. They expect others of their 
people. The Five Nations call them Skaniataratigroni, i. e., 
the people who dwell on the bay or lake. Recrossed river 
to our tent. This evening we were alone in our tent and 
closed the day with the celebration of the Lord^s Supper. 

"'October 9. — Made preparations for return by path that 
keeps along the upper side of the Susquehanna down to 
Wamphallobank and thence to Shamokin. 

" October 8. — Passed through the Chickasaw town and 
bade adieu to all our friends. Presented some of the women 
with needles and thread. They gave us pumpkins baked in 
the ashes. Moved down the beautiful flats. 

"October 10. — Came to falls of Nescopeck. Shouted for 
a canoe. Nutimaes,^^ the governor, painted and decked 
with feathers, came to set us over. Gave him a silver 
buckle. The Governor's house was the most spacious I 
had ever seen among the Indians. The Governor, his five 

23. Joseph Nutimus or Notamaes (Wenekaheman) was a Delaware Indian, known 
as "Old King Nutimus." He lived at the mouth of the Nescopeck Creek, north branch 
of Susquehanna, some thirty miles below Wilkes-Barre, from the time of Zinzendorf 's 
visit in 1742 to 17S3. 

At one time he and his people symathized with the French, and Nescopeck was the 
rendezvous of those who were plotting against the English. Nutimus is charged with 
a large share of the responsibility for the slaughter of the Moravians at Gnadeiihutten 
in 1755- It 's said that he left for the Ohio about 1763. He had a son Isaac, who died 
at Tioga. (See Historical Record, Wilkes-Barre, vol. 2, p. i.) John W. Jordan says 
that the old king of Nescopeck cannot fairly be accused of the massacre at Gnaden- 
hutten. He was always a warm friend of the Moravians and frequently visited Bethle- 
hem, wheie he was hospitably entertained, and whenever the Moravians visited Nes- 
copeck he gladly [reciprocated. 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 47 

sons, with their wives and daughters, live together ; and his 
other sons at their plantation, i ^ miles farther down. On 
taking leave we kept down the river, and were soon met by- 
one of their cousins with a negro — for the Governor of Nes- 
copeck has five slaves, a negress and four children. Ne- 
groes are regarded by the Indians as inferior creatures. Met 
the Governor and Isaac and Ben, his sons, who greet us 
cordially. He greeted us with Kehella! [This was the 
Delaware ejaculation of pleasure or approval.] Ben had 
just returned from the hunt. Gave him a pipe tube. Ben 
gave us a fine deer roast. We presented him with a silver 
buckle and needles and thread for his wife." 

Arrived at Shamokin, de Watteville was greeted by Shi- 
kellimy, to whom Zinzendorf had sent a costly gift, and an 
affectionate message, entreating him to remember the Gos- 
pel. The bishop's visit impressed him deeply, and two 
months later he journeyed to Bethlehem to hear more of 
the Gospel. He was taken ill while returning and lived 
but a short time. 

Being one of the most prominent sachems of the day, 
Shikillimy's death attracted marked attention. The Colonial 
government transmitted a message of condolence, and re- 
quested one of his sons to act as Iroquois deputy until a per- 
manent appointment could be made by the Grand Council. 
The mission at Shamokin did not flourish long after Shikel- 
limy's death, and Zeisberger was transferred to a new en- 
terprise, namely, to establish a mission among the Onondaga 
Indians in the colony of New York. The embassy was 
entrusted to Cammerhoff and Zeisberger. Meanwhile the 
British Parliament had passed an act recognizing the Mo- 
ravian Church, as "an ancient Protestant Episcopal Church," 
and exempting them from military service, thus freeing 
them from such hardships as they had had to undergo at 



48 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

Shekomeko, when the petty legislators of New York had 
driven them from their province. 

Now were these "Moravian priests," these "vagrant stroll- 
ing preachers," recognized by the supreme authority of par- 
liament and put on a parity with the Anglican Church. 



1750. — In May this year Cammerhoff accompanied by 
Zeisberger journeyed to Onandaga. "May 20. — Came to 
Wajomick and went to the Nanticoke town, where we were 
cordially received. Pitched our tents on a knoll opposite 
the great flats." 

After staying eight days at Wyoming they started north- 
ward by canoe to the country of the Iroquois, their guide 
being a Cayuga chief. 

Bishop Cammerhoff in his journal calls the Lackawanna 
by the Iroquois name of Hatsarok. Somewhere about 
Gardner's Run, above Pittston, the Bishop came to an In- 
dian settlement on the east side of the river, called Pehen- 
darnetu-chquaminink. A few miles further up the river, 
on same side, was a fertile strip of land with an old peach 
orchard, evidently the site of a former Indian plantation. 

The journey was one of the most romantic ever under- 
taken by Moravian missionaries. Great sufferings and won- 
derful escapes distinguished it. Whenever they came across 
any Indians they were received with kindness. Both had 
previously been adopted by the Six Nations — Zeisberger 
by Shikellimy in 1745, and named Ganousseracheri ; Cam- 
merhoff in 1748, and name Gallichwio. On their arrival at 
Onondaga, June 21 was fixed as the day for the council, but 
a delay was unavoidable, because most of the Indians were 
intoxicated. The days passed by without any signs of re- 
turning sobriety, and they accordingly deferred action here 
and paid a visit to the Senecas. 

Their journey was marked by great hardship, owing to 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 49 

the drunkenness which prevailed almost everywhere among 
the Indians. Finally the council convened at Onondaga. 
The visitors found it necessary to explain the purposes of 
the negotiations, as there were charges that they were em- 
issaries of France, endeavoring to entice the Six Nations 
from their compact with the English. The envoys were 
even summoned t-o Philadelphia to explain the situation to 
the governor. The envoys asked permission for the breth- 
ren to live among the Indians in order to learn the language 
of the Iroquois, and sent a petition from the Nanticokes at 
Wyoming to have a blacksmith shop, under missionary 
auspices, as at Shamokin. 

Permission for any two Moravians to live among the Six 
Nations and learn their language was granted, but the peti- 
tion of the Nanticokes was refused, and they were told to 
frequent the smithy at Shamokin. 

Having attained the chief object of their visit, Cammer- 
hoff and Zeisberger returned by way of Wyoming. Cam- 
merhofif speaks thus of passing through the Wyoming 
Valley : 

"August 2. In the P. M. passed through the Shawanese 
town, but saw no one, and at 5 P. M. came to the Nanticoke 
town and were welcomed by the chief." 

They reached Shamokin August 6, having traveled 1600 
miles on horseback, on foot and in canoe. The hardships 
of the journey completely shattered Cammerhoff 's health, 
and he did not long survive — his death occurring in the 
following April. Zeisberger had been sent to Saxony to 
report to Zinzendorf, and had returned with the appoint- 
ment of perpetual missionary to the Indians. 

1752. — Jn January, 1752, Zeisberger returned to his old 
post at Shamokin, but he was anxious to labor amongst the 
Six Nations. He was accordingly appointed to take up 
his abode at Onondaga, agreeably to the compact made 



50 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

with the council. He first joined a party that went to Sha- 
mokin and Wyoming. In the course of this tour fifty 
bushels of wheat were distributed. This induced a body 
of 107 Nanticokes and Shawanese to visit Gnadenhiitten and 
thank the board. They were hospitably and generously 
received and entertained both there and at Bethlehem ; and 
returning to Wyoming they spread the fame of the Mora- 
vian teachers. A covenant of everlasting friendship had 
been established. 

The Shawanese and Nanticokes of Wyoming Valley had 
long sought to establish such a covenant of friendship with 
the Mohicans of Gnadenhiitten, and this was now happily 
accomplished. The much-desired covenant was ratified 
with due formality and an exchange of wampum. From a 
record of this event there is obtained the following names 
of chiefs then dwelling in Wyoming Valley : 

Nanticokes — Sampeutigues,John Kossy, John Dutchman, 
loinopion, Robert White (interpreter). 

Shawanese — Paxinosa, Patrick. 

" In March of 1753 these tribes sent a deputation to Beth- 
lehem urging upon the Moravians the removal of their con- 
verts from Gnadenhutten to Wyoming. This the Moravi- 
ans would not entertain. In fact, they suspected evil in the 
suggestion, and the sequel showed that the Oneidas of the 
Six Nations, or perhaps the Six Nations themselves, had 
urged the step, in view of hostilities with the English — de- 
sirous of having all Indians out of the white settlements, safe 
in the Indian country. It is evident that the war of 1755 
was already in contemplation at this time. So urgent were 
they for the removal of the Moravian Indians to Wyoming 
that they stated the Nanticokes would move higher up 
the river and leave their plantations at Wyoming for the 
new-comers. In this way the Nanticokes came to leave the 
Valley. This was in 1753. So persistently did the Six 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 51 

Nations press the removal of the Moravian Indians from 
Gnadenhiitten that in April of 1754 seventy of the latter 
(much against the wish and urgent dissuasions of their 
teachers) set out from that place for Wyoming. Among 
these were Teedyuscung and Abraham Shebash, the Mo- 
hican. 

"A concern for the spiritual welfare of these seceders now 
led the Moravian preachers more frequently into the Valley 
than before, and they strove to keep them true to their pro- 
fessions. When the war broke out in 1755, some of those 
stray sheep returned to Bethlehem, while others lapsed into 
their old ways and cast in their lot with the savages. Thus 
some were lost to the missions." 

1753. — In May, Rev. Christian Seidel of Bethlehem visited 
Wyoming. He was a man of 36. From his journal : 

"March 21. — Dined not far from the old Nanticoke town, 
in the lower part of the Valley, on the east side of the Sus- 
quehanna. Found a canoe, in which we crossed to the 
Shawanese town. Met our convert, old Mohican Abraham, 
who has his hut here. Were cordially welcomed and shown 
to a hut, but were annoyed by some traders who came and 
lodged with us. Abraham and his wife Sarah told us that 
a great council would be held here in a few days, to which 
Indians from all parts of the Susquehanna were expected. 
Hence we resolved to go down to Shamokin, and return 
after the council. [He failed to return to Wyoming.] Pax- 
inosa, the Shawanese king, and his wife Elizabeth called on 



us. 



* * * 



In 1753 Zeisberger passed through Wyoming on his way 
from Bethlehem to Onondaga. At Shamokin he had heard 
of the invasion of the Ohio by the French, but determined 
to proceed with a single companion. Arriving by canoe at 
Wyoming, he found the remnant of the Nanticoke Indians 
preparing to emigrate northward, with the bones of their 



52 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

dead, to the country of the Tuscaroras, in a fleet of five 
canoes. They were acting in compHance with an order from 
the Grand Council, which also wanted to transfer the Chris- 
tian Indians of Gnadenhiitten to Wyoming. The mission- 
aries declined the invitation of the Nanticokes to join them, 
and pushed up the river alone. The country was almost 
depopulated. They reached Onondaga June 8th. It was 
a time of intense excitement on account of the threats of 
the French to pass through and open the way to the Ohio. 
Finding that war was imminent, the missionaries returned 
to Bethlehem in November. 

In 1754 Mack and Roessler visited Wyoming. Mack's 
journal is of special interest, predicting, as it does, the Pen- 
namite War : 

June 24. Set out from Gnadenhiitten, All the creeks 
were much swollen, and hence they did not enter the Val- 
ley till the 28th. The Susquehanna had overflowed its 
banks, so that where people usually dwelt and planted was 
now swept by a tearing stream. For a time they saw no 
living being, but afterwards saw a canoe and hailed it, 
whereupon an Indian came to the shore and set Mack and 
his companion over. They had many callers, among others 
Paxinosa's young son. Mohican Abraham was at this 
time living in the Shawanese town. There they met Abra- 
ham and his wife Sarah. At the son's request. Mack held 
a meeting in old Paxinosa's cabin. He was not at home. 
Abraham interpreted. Meanwhile the Delawares and Mo- 
hicans assembled and Mack preached to them. Then he 
had conversation with the old Gnadenhiitten converts. Al- 
though Paxinosa was absent, many other Indians from up 
and down the Susquehanna had assembled at his town to 
take council with him in reference to a message to the Five 
Nations, who had sent them a belt of wampum. This 
crowd Mack also addressed, on request, after which he was 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 53 

invited to dine in Paxinosa's cabin. Meanwhile more and 
more Indians arrived, and at last came Paxinosa. * * * 

Mack thus observes in his journal : 

First. Wyoming is in a critical condition. The New 
Englanders, in right of a royal charter, lay claim to Wyo- 
ming. The Pennsylvanians hold it is within the proprietary 
grant and wish the Indians to sell it to them. Thus the 
Indians are in a dilemma ; for if they yield to the solicita- 
tions of the Pennsylvanians and oppose the New England- 
ers who desire to settle here, and who threaten to shoot 
their horses and cows (and the Pennsylvanians urge them 
to oppose them), they know there will be a war, as the New 
Englanders are a people who refuse to regard the Indians 
as lords of the soil, and who will subjugate them if they 
refuse to evacuate the Valley. 

Second. Our convert Delawares and Mohicans have re- 
ceived a message from the Five Nations to send a deputa- 
tion up to Onondaga to ask of them a district of their own 
somewhere on the river, and for permission to have religious 
teachers of their own. 

Third. There is a general interest in religion among the 
Indians of the Valley. They desire the Moravians to send 
teachers to tell them the word of the true God. 

Fourth. The recent floods have ruined all the plantations 
and destroyed the corn and beans. 

In 1754 Bernhard Adam Grube^* and Carl Gottfried Rundt 
journeyed from Gnadenhiitten to Wyoming, Their diary 

24. Bernhard Adam Grube was born in 1715 and was educated at the University of 
Jena. His first missionary station was Meniolagomeka in 1752. This village lay eight 
miles west of the Wind Gap, in Monroe county, Pa., at the intersection of the road to 
Wilkes-Barre. He acquired the Delaware language and translated into it a Harmony 
of t!ie Gospels. In 1754 he visited Wyoming and spent fifteen months at Shamokiii, 
where he says the Moravian blacksmith shop was on one occasion taken possession of 
by 30 warriors, who for eight days made it the scene of their drunken revels. There 
was constant danger from the savages. In 1755 he was in charge at Gnadenhutten, 
and barely escaped with his life in the memorable massacre of that year. After a long 
and eventful life of devoted service he died in i8o5 at the age of 91. See Pennsylvania 
Magazine of History, April, 1901. 



54 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

goes into considerable detail as to their stay among the In- 
dians. They were cordially welcomed by Paxinosa, who 
was at this time king of the Shawanese at Wyoming. In 
this diary the name is written Pakschanoos. The old king 
and his entire family attended a baptism of an Indian wo- 
man, performed by the missionaries — the first time that sac- 
rament had ever been administered in the historic valley. 
Rundt was at this time a man of 41 and Grube was two 
years younger. 

"Diary of a journey made by the Brethren Grube and 
Rundt to Wajomik 1754." 

"July 22. — Brother Rundt and I left our beloved Gna- 
denhiitten, at noon, to go to (Wajomick) Wyoming. Our 
dear Brethren Mack and Sensemann accompanied us for a 
mile, and then, after they had sung a (ew verses for us, took 
an affectionate leave. It was very warm and the mountains 
were very high. Traveled 18 miles and camped for the 
night at the foot of the mountain, where Nutimus's hunting 
cabin formerly stood. Muschgetters (mosquitoes) torment- 
ed us all night. 

"July 23. — Started early and reached Wapwallopen. It 
rained hard and we were drenched, so we passed Wapwal- 
lopen and spent the night near the Susquehanna, where we 
made ourselves quite comfortable. 

"July 24. — We went up the Susquehanna to Thomas 
Lehmann, an Indian acquaintance. He gave us milk and 
was very friendly. He told us of a nearer route to Wyo- 
ming, this side of the Susquehanna, which led over the 
mountains. It consisted of a narrow foot-path which dis- 
appeared after awhile. We had to determine our course by 
notched trees; but these became scarce and soon none re- 
mained. We turned to the left towards a mountain from 
which, to our great surprise, we could overlook the plain. 
We pushed our way through the forest with much diffi- 
culty. 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 55 

" Came to the Susquehanna where we had to cross a 
swampy creek ; and then, traversing a plain this side of the 
river, we arrived at a former Nanticoke town. We followed 
a foot-path to the right, and were soon met by Joachim, 
Simon and another Indian, who greeted us in a friendly 
manner, and showed us a fallen tree on which to cross the 
creek. Towards evening we arrived at several plantations 
along the Susquehanna, where we found the aged Moses 
and his wife, and several sisters hoeing corn. They came 
and shook hands and greeted us. Then Moses took us 
across the Susquehanna to a Shawanese town. 

"We greeted the Brethren and Sisters, who were glad to 
see us, especially Brother Abraham, who kissed us and 
gave us a place in the center of his hut. Our Brethren and 
Sisters were about the only ones in town, as the Shawanese 
had gone hunting. After an hour the aged Nathaniel re- 
turned from hunting and with him Joshua, the Delawaree 
from Gnadenhiitten ; likewise Marcus, Jacob's son, Elias, 
Andrew's son, and Appowagenant. They all took up their 
quarters in our hut. About 22 of us were assembled. 

"July 25. — Gideon (Teedyuscung) and his son came from 
across the Susquehanna and said the visit of the Brethren 
pleased him very much, and he wished that we might live 
amongst them. Towards evening the wife of the old Shaw- 
anese chief Paxinosa returned home with her children. She 
greeted us very cordially. We also crossed the river and 
visited two Delaware huts. Isaac of Nescopeck, who was 
there, said he had been baptised by Mack at Gnadenhiitten. 
I told him more about the Saviour, and then recrossed the 
river and entered the Shawanese town. Abraham had in 
the meantime called a meeting and the hut was quite full. 
Brother Nathaniel acted as interpreter. At the close of my 
address I asked them if they would like to hear more about 
the Saviour each night, and they all signified assent with 
"gohanna, gohanna." Retired with gladdened hearts. 



56 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

"July 26. — Early this morning we continued our journey, 
accompanied by Abraham, Nathaniel and Moses, up the 
Susquehanna for 1 1 miles. On the way Abraham showed 
us the place where he intended to build his house, namely, 
half a mile farther on, where Zinzendorf's fifth resting place 
had been. The land is elevated and near a creek. The 
locality has a large spring, and is not to be surpassed. The 
land is level and fertile. Wood abounds. There is an 
outcropping of limestone several miles long and one-fourth 
mile distant from the Susquehanna. 

"In the afternoon we came to the end of Wyoming, where 
we were taken across the river. We came to a Minisink 
town, which consisted of 1 1 houses. We called upon the 
chief, who had told Abraham that if the Brethren should 
come from Gnadenhiitten, they should visit him. We were 
therefore heartily welcomed. They gave us food. Soon 
after the most of the Indians, as well as our Brethren, went 
into the "sweat house."^^ 

"The chief made preparations for a meeting in an empty 
hut large enough for two fireplaces. The chief summoned 
all the people. The women sat around one fire and the 
men around the other. I then sang a few Delaware verses 
and Nathaniel translated them. I said that I was very glad 
that they had a desire to hear something about our God, 
and would therefore tell them words of life. We concluded 
by singing a few verses, and then retired to our stopping 
place. Brother Nathaniel, however, was called out and 
asked to tell again what I had said. This he did. We re- 

25. For description of the medicine sweat, an aboriginal Turkish bath, see The 
Story of the Indians by George Bird Grinnell, also Heckewelder's Indian Nations, p. 
219. It was built of earth and would hold from one to six persons. Stones were heated 
and placed into vessels containing decoctions of roots and plants. The Indians would 
crawl inside and sweat and smoke for an hour, after which they would dash out for 
a plunge in the nearest stream. Sweating seems to have been their chief medication, 
though bleeding was sometimes resorted to. For details as to Indian medicine see 
Loskiel, 112. 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. ^^ 

tired in the meantime, and thanked the Saviour for this 
open door to the hearts of the Minisink Indians. 

"July 27. — Early in the morning we visited Anton's 
father, who spoke to us much about his spiritual affairs. 
After having partaken of a meal in our quarters, we bade 
farewell and were about to leave, but the chief asked us to 
remain a little longer, as he wished to summon his people 
again, for they desired to hear once more about our Saviour. 
They were soon assembled. I told them again about sal- 
vation through the blood of Christ. The people were atten- 
tive and quiet and responded to every sentence with a loud 
"kehella." Before the meeting a man had spoken with the 
Indian brethren Abraham and Nathaniel, saying he was a 
poor sinner, and wished to learn to know our God. We 
took leave of each one and continued on our way rejoicing. 
On the journey we heard that Joshua, the Mohican, from 
Gnadenhiitten had come. We were surprised ; but when 
we arrived home he had already gone, much to the regret 
of Abraham. We were gladdened by a note from our dear 
Joseph at Gnadenhiitten. As the Shawanese chief Paxi- 
nosa had returned home with his sons, we went to visit 
him. He was very glad to see us. Abraham said Paxinosa 
desired to have a meeting to-night, because he would like 
to hear about the Saviour. About 30 Indians and the 
whole family of Paxinosa assembled. The men sat at one 
end of the hut and the women at the other, while we were 
in the middle. Then I preached the Gospel to them. Both 
before and after the address we sang a few Delaware verses. 
The youngest son of Paxinosa and another Shawanese 
came to us with two violins, and desired to hear our melo- 
dies. We played a little, at which they and our Brethren 
and Sisters were well pleased. It rained very hard during 
the night, and as the roof was very poor we became quite 
wet. 

"July 28. — Old Nathaniel awakened us by singing a Mo- 



58 COUNT ZIN2END0RF 

hican verse. Paxinosa visited us, and I read several Dela- 
ware verses for him. He prepared his empty hut for us, so 
that we could speak in private with some of the brethren 
and sisters. Abraham and Sarah spoke very nicely. What 
grieved them the most was that they had to dispense with 
the Lord's Supper here. We also conversed with Nathan- 
iel. He said : 'If only the Brethren at Gnadenhiitten would 
again receive me.' We replied that as soon as he felt in his 
heart that he was forgiven by the Saviour, the Brethren at 
Gnadenhiitten would willingly forgive him. He was very 
humble and penitent. We then spoke with Moses and 
Miriam, Adolph and Tabea, John and Debora, and also Jo- 
achim, who said: 'I know I am a wicked man, but I can- 
not help myself 

"By this time the hut was quite well filled. The subject 
of my preaching was 'Jesus accepts sinners.' The unusual 
attention which was shown made my heart rejoice. In the 
afternoon we went out on the plain to see the old Mohican 
mother. She was anxious to be baptised, but was not yet 
decided. She said: 'About twelve years ago (1742) when 
Martin Mack's wife spoke to me, I felt something of the 
Saviour in my heart. Since then I could not forget it. A 
year ago I was at Gnadenhiitten, and although I felt I was 
a sinner, I went three times and asked to be baptised. How- 
ever, I was not baptised, but returned to Wajomic. Ever 
since that time I have had a longing for the Saviour. Mack 
promised that he would baptize me when he came in the 
fall.' I asked whether she considered it proper to be bap- 
tised now and she replied yes. I told her that the Saviour 
would baptise her to-day and receive her as his child, at 
which she greatly rejoiced. She grasped our hands and 
said : " Oneewe, oneewe !" When we made preparations 
for the baptism, Sarah clothed the candidate in a white 
dress. When the people had assembled she brought 
her in and seated her in the center of the hut upon 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 59 

a pounding block. Upon another block in front of her, 
which was covered with a cloth, stood the water. There 
were present about thirty persons, baptised and unbaptised. 
Paxinosa was present with his whole family. We first sang 
in the Delaware tongue. Then I spoke about baptism as 
the Saviour gave me utterance. Then followed the singing 
of a verse, after which I offered prayer in behalf of the can- 
didate. I then baptised her, giving her the name Marie. 
Not the least disturbance was made. 

"July 29. — Conversed with our dear old Marie, and was 
told by her that she was happy in her baptism. We had a 
farewell meeting and commended all to the protection of 
the wounded Lamb of God. Abraham and Sara accompa- 
nied us as far as the plain. Having told us how they felt 
toward the Saviour and the congregation at Bethlehem, and 
having asked us to greet the latter, we took affectionate 
leave. We then crossed the plain till we arrived at the great 
[Nanticoke] fall, where we caught a mess of fish. At night 
we arrived this side of Thomas Lehman's place, and en- 
camped on the banks of the Susquehanna for the night. 

"July 30. — We rose early and had ourselves taken across 
the Susquehanna. With Thomas Lehman I entered into 
conversation, making use of the opportunity to tell him the 
motive of our concerning ourselves so much about the In- 
dians. He understands English well, having had much to 
do with the whites. We passed Waphallobank, and as it 
began to rain hard, we built a hut of bark in which to pass 
the night. 

"July 31. — We arrived at Nescopeck, where we lodged 
with old Nutimus. He and his son Pantes were very friendly. 
In the afternoon we crossed the Susquehanna and went a 
distance of four miles to visit our dear old Solomon, whom 
we also found at home with his son John Thomas. They 
were very glad to see us and have us lodge with them over 
night. At night I sung some Delaware verses for them. 



6o COUNT ZINZENDORF 

"August I. — Early in the morning we again started for 
Nescopeck. Solomon kissed us at parting, and asked us to 
greet the folks at home. We visited a few huts in Nesco- 
peck, but had little opportunity to speak about our Saviour. 
At noon we continued our journey and arrived at this side 
of the Deer Mountain, encamping on the banks of a creek 
for the night. 

"August 2. — We crossed the other mountains gladly and 
cheerfully, and at night arrived at our dear Gnadenhiitten 
with glad hearts. We thanked the Saviour that he had so 
safely and signally led and guided us. 

"Bernhard Adam Grube, 

" Gnadenhutten. " Carl Gottfried Rundt." 

Zeisberger and Post also visited Wyoming in 1754. 

In 1755 Mack made three visits to Wyoming, in spite of 
the Indian war. 

"Sept. I. — Told Paxinosa I would go up to the Minsi 
town to preach, to which he gave consent. We started ac- 
companied by Paxinosa, his wife (Elizabeth), who carried a 
basket of watermelons. At the Minsi town met Christian 
Frederick Post. In the evening I preached in a large cabin 
with three fire places. 

"Sept. 2. — Preached again * * * 

"Sept. 3. — Visited in different huts * * * " 

In October Mack preached at the Minsi town at the 
mouth of the Lackawanna, but was disturbed by a great 
gathering of Indians who had come there from all quarters 
to celebrate the " Feast of the Harvest,^' which lasted for 
days, attended with dancing, carousals, etc., which so dis- 
turbed Mack that he saw fit to leave the place. 

In June, 1758, Post"^ was sent by the Governor of Penn- 

26. Christian Frederick Post, the most adventurous of Moravian missionaries, was 
born in Germany in 1710. Coming to America in theyearof Zinzendorf 's visit to Wyo- 
ming, lie engaged in missionary work among the Indians. He was twice married to 
Indian women. He preached to the Indians in Wyoming. In 175S the government 
sent htm on a dangerous mission to the Ohio, which resulted in the evacuation of Fort 
du Quesne by the French and the restoration of peace. 



IN THE WVOMING VALLEY. 6 1 

sylvania with a message to King Teedyuscung at Wyoming 
(Quawomik). He writes : 

"June 27. — Came to the town on this side of the river 
about two p. m. My Indian companions called out, on 
which a great number of Indians came out of their houses, 
many with painted faces, and upwards of forty strangers of 
different tribes. Teedyuscung's house was as full as it could 
hold. Found a captive woman, Cobus Decker's daughter, 
from the Jersey Minisinks, also a trader from Lancaster 
county, Lawrence Bork, who has been here during the 
whole war." 

In 1762 Zeisberger visited Wyoming twice — in March 
and November. In March his errand was to deliver a mes- 
sage from the Governor to King Teedyuscung in reference 
to a treaty. While here he met ten Onondaga warriors on 
the way south to resume hostilities with the Cherokees, the 
prosecution of which had been interrupted by the French 
and Indian war of 1755. 

Teedyuscung complained much of the cost at Wyoming 
of entertaining passing Indians — said that they ate him out 
of house and home, and that he thought of leaving and set- 
tling at Wapwallopen. 

For this trying journey from Philadelphia to Wyoming 
and return Zeisberger received £c^. He had to take an In- 
dian guide, as the country was covered with snow and the 
weather most severe. He paid the guide ^3 and expenses 
of his horse. Zeisberger hopes £^ for his own services 
"will not be thought too much, considering how many days 
it hath taken up and what danger I have been in." His 
bill for the journey is given in Doc. His. of New York, iv, 
200. Some account is given also in Loskiel's History of 
the Moravian Missions, part 2, p. 197. 

In November Zeisberger went to Wyoming purposely to 



62 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

see old Abraham, who was dying, but arrived too late to 
see him alive. 

Zeisberger speaks of two towns — one he calls a Mohican 
town, where Abraham and other converts from Gnadenhiit- 
ten lived, and near which, at his request, Abraham was 
buried — and a second one, Teedyuscung's town, both of 
which were on the east side of the river. 

Zeisberger records that in the Spring of 1765 two seals 
were shot in the Susquehanna near Wyoming by the In- 
dians. These were what were called harbor seals, which 
at that time used to ascend the rivers of the United States 
for the purpose of bearing their young. They lived on fish. 
Owing to a prevailing famine the strange creatures were 
considered as having been sent by God and were eaten. 

Bishop John Ettwein, who several times passed through 
Wyoming on his way from Bethlehem to the Indian town 
at Wyalusing, states in his journal of 1767 : 

"On descending the Wyoming Mountain into the Valley, 
my Indian guide pointed out a pile of stones, said to indi- 
cate the number of Indians who had already climbed the 
mountain ; it being a custom for each one to add one to the 
heap on passing that way. At 2 p. m. I reached Mr. Og- 
den's, where I was hospitably entertained. The Shawanese 
have all left the Valley, and the only traces of them are 
their places of burial, in crevices and caves in the rocks, at 
whose entrances stand large stones painted." 

His route was from Bethlehetn, northwest over the Blue 
Mountain, through the Pine Swamp, across the headwaters 
of the Lehigh to Wyoming. His journal says: "Continued 
my journey to Wyalusing. Rode up the east bank of the 
Susquehanna through a large fiat, nine miles to Lackawan- 
na (Lechawah-hanneck), where there was an Indian town 
up to 1755, and where our missionaries occasionally 
preached. It is now totally deserted by Indians. Along- 



IN THE WYOMING VALLEY. 63 

side of the path is a graveyard and upwards of thirty graves 
can be seen." 

Ettwein was born in Wurtemburg in 1721. He led the 
Moravian Church through the stormy times of the Revo- 
lution. 

With the tragic death of Teedyuscung in 1763 the Indian 
occupancy of Wyoming Valley ceased, except as it was oc- 
casionally visited by Indians from the Moravian village of 
Friedenshiitten up the Susquehanna in search of game or 
fish or hemp. With the abandonment of the Valley by 
Teedyuscung's handful of people there came to an end the 
faithful missionary effort which had been projected by Zin- 
zendorf 21 years earlier. 

The brave Moravians had done their work and done it 
well, but the savage heart was not receptive soil for the 
gospel seed. Though sometimes attended with gratifying 
success, there was not that widespread evangelization which 
the self-denying Moravians had toiled and struggled for. 
The red man was already disappearing under the ravages 
of destitution, drunkenness and disease (for much of which 
the avaricious and unprincipled white man was responsible), 
but the hopeful Moravian missionaries clung to him to the 
last and were faithful to the end. With the disappearance 
of the Indian and his Moravian teachers came our new civil- 
ization from Connecticut. 

FRIEDENSHUETTEN (wYALUSING) MISSION. 

Though outside of Wyoming Valley, this mission deserves 
mention, as it was the last Moravian station of any impor- 
tance within the boundaries of Pennsylvania. It was sub- 
sequent to the Wyoming occupancy by the Indians, and 
only ended when the Connecticut migration to Northeast- 
ern Pennsylvania began. The Friedenshiitten (Houses of 
Peace) mission was made up of Minsi Indians, who, after 
having been temporarily housed in Philadelphia during the 



64 COUNT ZINZENDORF 

Indian war of 1763, were compelled to remove from the 
white man's territory. They found a home at Wyalusing, 
whither they repaired in 1765, built a town and remained 
there until the emigration to the Ohio seven years later. 
In 1772 they abandoned Friedenshiitten, one detachment 
going down the Susquehanna past Wyoming and thence 
up the north branch, where they met a detachment who 
had gone across the country to the mouth of Muncy Creek. 
As they passed Wilkes-Barre, the newly-founded town of 
the Connecticut people, the Moravians rang their chapel 
bell, which they carried in one of their boats. A diary of 
the mission has been published in the Moravian by John 
W. Jordan, and many interesting details are given by 
Reichel in the transactions of the Moravian Historical So- 
ciety. The diary contains many interesting references to 
Wyoming, which was on the route to Bethlehem, and which 
was frequently resorted to for hunting or for the gathering 
of hemp. The Valley of Wyoming had been evacuated by 
its Indian occupants soon after the death of Teedyuscung 
in 1763, and was already being contested for by rival claim- 
ants under Pennsylvania and Connecticut, a contest that de- 
veloped into the Pennamite wars. The encroachments of 
the contending whites led the Friedenshiitten converts to 
seek a home in the Ohio country. 



INDEX. 



Asseriighney, Indian village, 6. 
Abraham, defection of, 23. 
Abraham's Creek, named for 

chief 6. 
Ancient apple orchard, 45. 
Buckshanoath on warpath, 25. 
Bork. Laurence, a trader. 61. 
Brainard, David, visited Wapwal- 

lopen (1744), 4, 8. 
Baptism, first at Wyoming-, 58. 
Bounties for Indian scalps, 26. 
Buckabuka. 31. 
Bears and deer abundant. 35. 
Benigna, sister of Zinzendorf, 42. 
Capouse. Monsey chief, 6. 
Connecticut emigration sets in, 

29, 63. 
Cayugas attack Wyoming, 49. 
Capt. Bull attacks Wyoming, 29. 
Chickasi at Wyoming, 44. 
Cammei'hoff visits Wyoming, 42, 48. 
Catawbas, war against, 44. 
Carv'ed god of Chickasaws, 45. 
Dutch traders at Wyoming 

(1737). 4. 19. 
Diaries of the missionaries, 1, 2, 12, 

31. 40, 43, 49, 51, 170, 54. 
De Schweinitz, Bishop. 2. 

Drunkenness among the Indians 7 
Teedyi'.scung a victim 28, at Wap- 
wallopen 33. at Onondaga 49, 53. 

Delaware Indians, "the original 
people" 5. council fire at Minisink 
5, at Wyoming 27, destroy Wyo- 
ming settlement, 29. 

Decker, Cobus, daughter a cap- 
tive. 61. 

Egle, Dr. W. H., 29. 

Ettwein, Bishop John, visits Wyo- 
ming, 62. 

FYiedenshiitten built at Bethlehem, 
39. at Wyalusing, 63. 

Forks of Delaware (Easton), 3, 8, 
Indians expelled from, 5, 6, 
Scotch-Irish invade, 6, Zinzen- 
dcrf's visit, 8. 

Forks of Susquehanna (Sun- 
bury). 2, 8. 

French first white men to see Wyo- 
ming 3, Brule in 1615, 4, traders, 11. 

Fort Augusta built, 8. 

Froehlich, Christian, visits Wyo- 
ming. 30. 

Frontier Wars. 21. 

Famine at Wyoming, 26 (1748), 40. 

First Indian war ends, 28. 

French war ends. 28. 



First massacre of Wyoming 

(1763), 2a. 
First baptism in Wyoming, 172. 
Gahonta (Wyoming). 18. 
Gnadenhiitten massacre, 24, built, 

39. 
Gr.iss man-high at Wyoming. 43. 
Grube visits Wyoming, 53, sketch 

of, 53, diary, 54. 
Haivey, Oscar J., 29. 
Herrnhut. 3. 
JIailobank. see Wapwallopen. 

Indians at Wyoming 1742 4, Shaw- 
anese the earliest 5, villages 5, 
disappear from 7, towns 20, wars 
21, war council 24. prepare for war 
25, tlieir occupancy ceases in 1763 
28, plantations along river 55. 

Iroquois capital of, 2; evangeliza- 
tion of 2, Long House 2, their vas- 
sals in Wvorr.ing 4. 5, insult the 
Delawares 6, Nanticokes their 
vassals 7. lost tribes of Israel 8. 

Jordan. John W., 2, 43. 

Jacob's Plains, Indian village, 6. 

Kiefer called to Wyoming, 26. 

Ijcnnie Lenape, the, 5. 

"Long House" of the Iroquois, 2. 

Lord's Supper, first in Wyoming, 42. 

Lackawanna called Hatsarok, 48. 

Lehmann Thomas. Indian farmer, 
54, 59. 

Mukh-haw-waumuck (Wyoming), 
4, IS. 

Moravian Church (United Breth- 
ren) 1, Wyoming mission 8. 

Montour family, "Madame" », An- 
drew interpreter. 9, 10, at Wyo- 
ming'l2, his appearance 15, 38. 

Mack, visits Wvoming (1748) 42, 
(1754) 52. predicts Pennamite War 
52, visits Wyoming (1755) 60. 

Medicine sweat, 5. 6. 

Missionaries given Indian names, 
38. 39. 48. 

Mohicans, covenant with, 39. 

Moravians arrive in Pennsylvania 
2 co-operate with Whitefleld and 
leave Georgia 3, missions to Wyo- 
ming Indians 29. 

Mack Martin, goes to Shamokln 8, 
accompanies Zinzendorf 9. sketch 
of 11 his journal 12, visits Wyo- 
ming' in 1744. 30, 31, at Shamokin 
40 journal of visit to Wyoming in 
1748. 40. 

Meehayomy (Wyoming), 18. 

Monsies on the Lackawanna 26. 

Marsh. Rev. Wm., killed, 29. 



Nescopeck, hostile Indians at, 23. 

Nitschman. Anna, 3. 8, marries Zin- 
zendorf, 9. 

Nanticoke Indians arrive at Wyo- 
ming 7, 46, their sorcery 7, side 
with British 7. remove bones of 
dead 27. leave Wyoming- 50, 169. 

Negro slaves owned by Indians, 
43, 47. 

Nutiraus, chief at Nescopeck, 46, 59. 

Ohio, Shawanese remove to, 5, Nan- 

ticokes 7. 
Otstonwakin, 17. 
Onondaga, seat of Iroquois, 2. 
Palatinates 18, exodus of 19, pass 

Wyoming (1723) 4. 
Pennamite War predicted, 52. 
Paxinosa, sketch of. 25, Shawanese 

king 54, listens to missionaries 57. 
Post, C. F., at Wyoming. 26, 60. 
Paths, Indian, to Wyoming, 30. 
"Power of the Gospel," Schussele's 

painting, 38. 
Pumpkins baked in ashes, 46. 
Peach orchard of Indian.s, 48. 
Plantations along Susquehanna 55. 

Queen EiSther Montour, grand- 
daughter of "Madame" Mon- 
tour, 9. 

Roessler visits Wyoming. 52. 

Sergeant, John, visits Wyoming 
(1741), 4. 

Shecomeco, 17. 37. 39. 48. 

Skehandowana (Wyoming), 18, 19. 

Smallpox, ravages of, 7. 

Shad. 2000 caught, 30. 

Sprangenburg 37, visits Wyoming 
(1746) 39. 

Seidel visits Wyoming. 26, 51. 

Schussele's painting, "Power of the 
Gospel," 38. 

Shawenese go to Ohio 42, left Wyo- 
ming 62. 

Shikelluny. Oneida viceroy at Sha- 
mokin, 9. 20, new viceroy 26, goes 
to Onondaga 38, death of 47. 

Six Nations, how composed, 2. lost 
tribes of Israel 8, wars against 
Southern Indians 8. 

Shamokin. Dela wares moved to. 6, 
Zinzendori's visit 8. its strategic 
position 8. Mack first missionary 
8, Zinzendorf at 9, mission de- 
stroyed 26, smithy established 40. 

Second Indian war, 28. 



Senecas destroy Wyoming. 29. 

Sweat house, 56. 

Seals shot in Susquehann? 62. 

Teedyuscung, king of the Dela- 
warcs, locates at Wyoming 5, 
government builds him a village 
6. 21, death 7, baptized 23, on war- 
path 23, 26. conciliated at liiistDn 
treaty 27. 28, his oratory 27, re- 
moves in 175S to Wyoming 28, gov- 
ernment builds village for liim at 
Wyoming 28. assassinated in 1763 
28, his son attacks Wyoming 29, 
complains of having to entertain 
too much at Wyoming 61, his town 
62. 

Tulpihocken, Zinzendorf goes to 
14, wampum from 15, Weisser's 
return from 16, Palatinates 19. 

Tudelars. degenerate Indians, 43. 

Tuscaroras at Wyoming, 44. 

Tobacco cultivated by Indians 46. 

Villages, Indian, in Wyoming Val- 
ley, 5, 6, 7. 

Violins, Indians had, 57. 

Weisser, Conrad at Wyoming in 
Wyoming in 1737 4, 5, accompanies 
Zinzendorf 9. 10, Tulpehocken 
home 14, saves Zinzendorf 16, 
sketch of 18, joins Zeisberger 38. 

Wapwallopen, Indian names of, 30. 

Watchwords, 35, 37. 

Watteville, Bishop, visits Wyo- 
ming 42, journal, 43. 

Wyalusing mission, 63. 

Whitefleld, George, evangelist 3. 

Wesley. John, sent to Georgia, 3. 

Walking purchase of 1737. 6. 

Wyalusing mission 7. 

Watermelons cultivated by In- 
dians, 60. 

Warrior's path to Wyoming, 10. 

Wajomick, see Wyoming. 

Zeisberger, sketch of, 37, his 
"Power of the Gospel" 38, at Sha- 
mokin 40, visits Wyoming as in- 
terpreter 42, visits Wyoming with 
Cammerhof 48, also with Mack 60, 
visits Wyoming (1762). 61. 

Zinzendrof. life of. 2; names Beth- 
lehem on Christmas 3, sketch of 
3, Mrs. Sigouiney poem 3, visits 
Wyomin- 4, 5. 6. 8, 9, his view of 
origin of Indians 8, encamps at 
Plymouth 11. experiences in Wyo- 
ming 12, snake adventure 13, 
writes hymns 13, plot to murder 
16, his names 17, return to 
Kurope 17. 









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